Kaa & Kiara
by senshi05
Summary: Kaa the Rock Python had hid in the shadows for many years and faded into legend. However, an adventurous young Kiara comes across the very serpent upon his arrival in the Pride Lands and takes a liking to her new "friend" just as he does with her. Unbeknownst to either Simba or Nala, their own daughter is being manipulated by their oldest nightmare and may realize it all too late.
1. Revenge Of The Slith

**Surprise, bitch! I betcha thought you'd seen the last of this series. The time's come for Kiara to follow in her father's footsteps whether she likes it or not.**

* * *

**Kaa & Kiara **by senshi05

_Prologue: Revenge of the Slith_

Kovu's heart-rate skyrocketed as fear fueled his sprint through the Outlands. He knew he wasn't getting much closer to home but the lion cub knew that his family would be made into a meal if he was tracked. His ears picked up on hissing that sent shivers down his spine but he didn't dare look back and risk his own free will. The frantic feline had heard every harrowing stories and each one of them raced about in his mind. Odds were that he wouldn't be telling his very own.

Kovu darted around a sharp bend in the crevasse before spotting a large boulder dead ahead and stopping just as he hid behind it. His chest heaved heavily as he panted both out of exhaustion and pure fear. The lion cub tried his utmost to keep himself from making a sound and hope that his pursuer would pass him by. He held his breath and let most of the air out of his nose while keeping his ears open for any approaching noises just as his mother had drilled into him.

A few seconds pasted as Kovu paced his breathing the best he could and soon realized the strange silence that had settled in. He couldn't hear a hiss nor any slithering period. The lion cub looked toward his right in expecting some sort of sneak attack yet couldn't detect any movement. Part of himself wanted to just believe he was overreacting and panicked over what he thought he saw. The fearful feline was hoping for the best too much to look behind him quick enough.

"Life'ssss never fair, issssn't it?" a voice hissed right behind Kovu, shifting his frantic fear to pure despair. He slowly turned himself around while praying under his breath to any and all deities up there who'd take pity on him. "My good mood'ssss been ruined by a rather naughty kitten biting my tail for lunch," the voice went on as the petrified lion cub saw his pursuer slithering around the boulder almost silently. "Assssss for you... well, I'm ccccertain you're aware of your folly."

Kovu couldn't take his eyes off of the large python that was glaring down at his very soul and inching closer to his prey. "P-p-p-please," he started to stammer out of sheer desperation. "I-I-I didn't..." However, the constant thought of his imminent demise consumed any ability to coherently communicate. The lion cub began to tear up as his head craned up to witness the very legend that every animal in the Pride Lands or Outlands had nightmares over: Kaa the Rock Python.

"Oh, let me guesssss," Kaa wearily sighed, his glare seeming more disgruntled than angry. "You're about to bawl how you didn't mean to mistake my tail for a the lizards you usually eat." He kept his eye on Kovu, relishing the terror he was instilling within him. "Afterwards, you'll grovel pathetically and beg me to spare your life as if I'm known for such mercy." The python kept an eye on his tail slithering up from behind the lion cub. "Any other cliches you'd like to bore me with?"

"Y-y-y-you can't be him," Kovu managed to stammer, his mind in the stage of denial. "H-h-h-he's just a nighttime story t-t-to scare cubs." His eyes were way too fixated on Kaa's glare for him to notice the tail beginning to loop around his torso slowly and stealthily, not even brushing his fur. "A-a-a-any second now, m-my mom'll be here to help me." Sure enough, it slithered around his neck within seconds unbeknownst to him. "S-she'll send you packing and prove you are- URK!"

Kaa finally showed his smile as he tightened the coils around Kovu's body in a fraction of a second, steadily yet eagerly ensnaring his prey's body. The best part for the sinister serpent was how the helpless kitten's eyes widened in direct response to the tightening squeeze around his neck. His mouth remained agape, expressing both confusion and fear seamlessly. Only all four of the lion cub's legs remained outside the scaly cocoon but he was hardly able to move either one.

Kovu's wheezing was barely audible to himself as he felt the strong grip slowly crushing his body and his windpipe. Any attempts at breathing period were next to impossible as the lion cub felt the stranglehold intensify. He desperately wanted to just scream for help at the top of his lungs but they were both currently in pain from his inability to inhale and exhale. He could only twitch his legs in trying to reach up and claw the coils off. It was a horror beyond his worst nightmare.

Kaa savored the sight of Kovu's strangulated state as his slowly lifted his prey off the ground and moved his head in closer. "Feel my coilssss grip your entirety," he hissed, looking into the lion cub's pleading eyes. "Feel the air begging to be let out of your lungs." He flicked his tongue to get a taste of the helpless kitten's succulent scent. "Now tell me again if I'm just a nighttime story," the python spat back with a sneer, enjoying the cruelty of his demand. "Go ahead and say it..."

Kovu was dead silent even with his strangled wheezing and miraculously clung onto dear life if only out of desperate hope. The excruciating experience almost didn't feel real despite the pain he was being put through. The lion cub could only look directly at Kaa's sadistic smirk and felt his heart sinking down to a new level of despair. As of that very moment, he had been reduced to a toy for the python to torture with his coils and felt his pride being grounded down to the dirt.

"The funny thing issss," Kaa began, eager to rub salt in Kovu's wounds, "I only intended to give your a good look in the eye and make you forget all about me." The look of fleeting hope in Kovu's pupil was always his favorite part of the process. "Alasssss you jussssst had to make a run for it and make me work up an mean appetite." He almost wanted to loosen the coils around the lion cub's neck just to hear his blubbering. "Esssentially, you've jusssst committed ssssuicide."

Kaa couldn't help imagining young Simba in Kovu's place, an overgrown kitten being punished for his transgressions. "I have planssss for the Pride Landsss and their king that require me to be more in the sssshadowssss than usual." He could only wish he did that the first chance he had gotten. "I can't even allow the Outlands know assss word tendssss to travel fasssst even acrosssss the Sssahara." His maw began to widen. "I'm afraid that thisss hasss not been your day."

Kovu's pupil shrunk in pure horror as he could only look at Kaa's mouth opening wide and displaying his gullet before lowering it down towards his face. The lion cub could barely even get his legs to twitch between the constricting coils. He had to do something. Anything. However, what little fire in his spirit remained was doused when his head was fully engulfed by the python's massive maw. All he could see was pure darkness without even the faintest of light. His resting place.

Kaa savored the flavor as he began to unravel the coils around Kovu's body and swallow his prey with the strength of his throat muscles alone. The lion cub's torso was pulled into the snake's gullet with his arms pinned down by his lower jaw alone. The powerful python soon lifted his head up with the helpless kitty's hind legs hanging out along with his tail. Kicking back, he gave a big gulp so his meal's lower half could slide down and disappear into his esophagus with ease.

Closing his mouth, Kaa relished the feeling of Kovu traveling down his throat and even more so when he began to wriggle about despite being exhausted. He loved the way his victims would try to kick up a fuss after having the squeeze put on them. The fact that part of them believe they still had a chance was just priceless. It was something that he couldn't wait for the Pride Land's Princess to experience. Her suffering would be but the prelude to his ultimate vengeance.

"Sssssee you ssssoon, Ssssimba..."

* * *

**Kovu's fate has taken a rather fatal turn as his destined encounter with Kiara is no longer to be. Someone else shall play that prestigious part for him...  
**


	2. The Princess And The Python

**Kiara goes off in search of real adventure but gets far more than she might've bargained for with a certain ruthless reptile...**

* * *

_Chapter 1: The Princess and The Python_

Kiara mischievously smirked at the sight of two Meerkats squabbling about directions as she slowly moved closer. She could barely keep herself from giggling before getting within two inches behind them and letting out the very best roar she could. The way they literally jumped into the air and widened their eyes to the size of grapes brought laughter out of the Pride Land's plucky princess. She tried to give out another roar even at her "prey" scurried away past the trees.

"I suppose working on your roar is a net positive if nothing else," Kiara heard from the air, diminishing her good mood within the second. She frowned upon recognizing the nasally voice along with its classy accent and turned around to see Zazu flying past the trees down towards her. "Though I would imagine that the king wouldn't appreciate your lack of permission." His dry wit made the lion cub's eyes roll as he touched down. "You should hope he's not terribly moody..."

Kiara let out an exhausted groan as she swung herself around and walked away from the royal advisor in a huff. "No smarmy comebacks?" Zazu mused in a deadpan tone of snark, pushing her more of her buttons. "Well, now I've seen everything." It were times like these that the princess was tempted to see how dry his wit would be inside her stomach. It didn't help that she was growing quite hungry. "Oh, must we go through this old song and dance almost every day?"

"Gee, I dunno," Kiara decided to volley back for the sake of it. "Will you take a hint and a hike already?" She tried to sped up her trot into a brisk canter to try and get away. "I'm not even that close to the Outlands period." The lioness cub started to smile and feel her spirits rising back up with this run. "I mean, is a little excitement or adventure too much to ask for a princess?" Her spirits were soon tempered when Zazu flew ahead and landed before her with a stern glare.

"Your definition of 'adventure' tends to put your life at risk," Zazu declared as he thrust his right wing into Kiara's face. The lion cub stopped in her tracks much to her annoyance. "Well, that's kinda of the point of an adventure last I checked," she retorted with her usual sass. "And last I checked," Zazu scoffed fussily before becoming distracted by something up above, "the Pride Lands would... be in quite the pickle... if the heir... became mere lunch... to say... the very least."

Kiara couldn't help but be both amazed and perplexed when Zazu's pupils suddenly shrunk back into the whites of his eyes. As if by magic, multiple rings of color flooded the birdbrain's eyes in a rhythmic pattern. The princess was hardly complaining about the advisor shutting his motormouth off at long last but still tilted her head at how he seemed so... out of it. She could tell he had stared at something behind her just as a sharp hissing sent shivers right down her spine.

"When a young lady inssssisssstssss on being on her own, a true gentleman sssshould resssspect her dessssiressss," Kiara heard as she swung around and saw a sight that left her in awe. A large python had slithered up from behind her and held his head well above her, making her crane her neck up for a good view. "Now why don't you fly off and never bother her again?" the snake hissed harshly, glaring directly at the entranced Zazu. "Do not tell a sssingle sssoul..."

Kiara looked back in time to see Zazu obeying by flapping his wings and flying off towards Pride Rock, leaving the princess befuddled to say the least. "I know it wasssssn't any busssinessss of mine," the serpent hissed, regaining Kiara's attention, "but I couldn't help sssstepping in to send that annoying avian packing." Kiara found herself transfixed by the large creature speaking to formally to her. "Ssssome guyssss jussst can't take a hint with the ladiessss sssuffice to sssay."

"O-Oh no," Kiara stammered, still at a loss for words at the large snake before her, "not at all." She couldn't help but go around and take in the rest of his long body, her grin growing in excitement. "I mean, I would've batted him away myself but seeing him scared silly like that was priceless." The plucky princess can't help but marvel at the python's bulk and length, her mouth agape in curiosity. "Can't say that I blame him when you could swallow him whole in a single gulp?"

Kaa couldn't help but find Kiara's fascination with him rather adorable and chuckle at how oblivious she truly was. "You don't ssssseem too worried about that yoursssself," he hissed teasingly, moving his head down to the princess. "Mosssst cubssss would run away in fear of becoming my nexxxt meal." The memory of swallowing Kovu was still fresh in his mind as he sighed in satisfaction. The python flicked his tongue to pick up on Kiara's scent and craved for a second course.

"Well, as it happens, I'm not most cubs," Kiara retorted with such sass, giving Kaa a smarmy look in the eye. "I'm what you might an adventurer." She even put her right paw on her chest in her declaration much to Kaa's amusement. "A crocodile had the nerve to swallow me whole without even having the decency to chew me." The princess was all too keen to make a good first impression. "His big blunder cost him big time when I clawed out of his guts and swam to shore."

"My goodnessssss," Kaa said, pretending to be enthralled by Kiara's tall tales, "It'ssss an honor to meet ssssuch a brave youngsssster." He knew all too well that the lioness cub wanted to feel like a big deal to an imposing predator such as himself. Of course, her tomboyish demeanor was too endearing to diminish. "I don't ssssupposssse that you've come acrosssss any ssssnakessss asss big assss mysssself." He began to slither his tail towards the princess from behind.

"A few vipers have tried to sink their teeth into me," Kiara bragged with a cocky sneer, believe that Kaa was buying her stories. "Of course, I always get the drop on those chumps every time." She couldn't have noticed the tail making a loop around her hind legs. "They were never as big as you though." The lioness cub looked at the python with such fascination and admiration like she really had been hypnotized. "Could you actually swallow an entire lion if you wanted to?"

Kaa sniggered as began to grip his coiling tail around Kiara's hind legs. "Let'ssss find out together, sssshall we?" he hissed in a sinister tone of voice. He adored how the lioness cub's eager grin fell upon feeling the coils around her legs and immediately pulled her up slowly but surely up into the air. The sadistic serpent further enjoyed seeing his damsel in distress flail her fore-arms and wriggle like a worm in his grip. It'd been a long time coming but her panicking was worth it.

Kiara could barely process it all in her frantic state of mind and looked at her hind legs to find Kaa's tail pinning them together tightly. "Lemme go, you oversized worm!" she indignantly declared as she tried to reach up with her fore-arms and unsheathed her claws. She gritted her teeth as her swiping paws came up short by a mere inch. The princess found herself bending back down with her upper body strength being minuscule at best and began to panted heavily quickly.

"It would appear that our sssspunky heroine hassss gotten hersssself into quite the tight sssspot," Kiara heard a cheeky comment coming from just before her. "Sssurely, her ssssharp witssss will get her out of thissss one." She looked ahead to find Kaa's smug mug chuckling in her face upside down. "It would be a real ssshame to sseee sssuch a renowned adventurer ssswallowed up." The princess blushed bright red and snarled at the sassy snake for humiliating her like this.

"Oh, I'll give you sharp!" Kiara retorted as she swiped her claws at Kaa's condescending glower. However, the python stayed perfectly still while her paws once again came up short but an inch and chuckled at such a juvenile display. "Now, now," the sinister serpent cooed, his tail slithering down towards the princess's belly. "A feissssty feline like yoursssself sssssimply mussssst learn to laugh at themssssselvesssss." He snickered before making his tail stroke the cub's tummy.

Kiara's swiping stopped as the tickling sensation got a giggle out of her easily and had her scowl shift to a silly smile. "Sto-ah-ah-p," she managed to stammer through her laughing, blushing at how embarrassing she must look. "I'm beg-eh-eh-ging." The princess wanted to be mad at Kaa and his perpetual smug mug but was too caught up in her laughing fit to have another go at him. "Ple-he-he-he-ase," the lioness cub chuckled adorably with small tears forming in her eyes.

Kaa snickered at Kiara's adorable helplessness. "There'sssss that ssssweet kitty we all know and love," he hissed haughtily before beginning to stretch out his jaws. "Alassss it would appear that our intrepid exxxxplorer hassss more than met her matccch." The sadistic snake continued to tickle the princess while lifting her up and craning his own head up right. The lioness cub was too busy laughing her tail off to notice the python's mouth opening wide right beneath her head.

Kiara's head looked down during her uncontrollable giggling and couldn't stop smiling even as she saw Kaa's maw open wide, his gullet on display. "Wh-ha-ha-hat are-re-re you..." she managed to splutter out before the grip around her hind legs let her go. The tickling ceased as she found herself free falling down from high in the air and down towards the python's gaping maw, her pupils shrinking in pure fear. All she could do was scream in pure terror during her final seconds.

* * *

**Has Kaa gotten his revenge on Simba? I'd be pretty hollow if the king himself wasn't there to witness his daughter being consumed...**

**Please leave a review down below.**


	3. The Eyes Have It

**The conniving Kaa smooths things over with a pouty Kiara by using his trademark trick and plants seeds for future developments.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 2: The Eyes Have It_

Kiara shut her eyes as she expected to be engulfed by Kaa's maw and gulped down his throat like an afternoon snack, more scared than she had even been before. A second passed before a big jolt made her snap her eyes back open and revealed to her that she had ceased to fall. Looking up, the princess found that her tail had been caught by the very tail that had tickled her. The lioness cub could only swing in mid-air like a pendulum when a familiar smirk slithered up.

"Then again," Kaa chuckled, amused with his little practical joke, "a cute kitten like yoursssself would be too ssssweet for my palette." He adored the sight of Kiara hanging by his own grip with her hind legs spread out and her fore-arm drooping down listlessly in her confusion. "Though I would ssssay my appetite for punking you big time hassssss been ssssssufficccciently ssssssatissssfied." The python further enjoyed the look on the princess's face and started to swing her.

"Hey, that's enough!" Kiara protested indignantly as she found herself swinging back and forth by her own tail. "I'm getting dizzy here." No matter how much she wriggled about, Kaa held her firmly by the tail and laughed at how she helplessly rocked about at his mercy. "Joke's over, you big bully!" The princess could feel her embarrassment grow as she found herself becoming a python's plaything and degraded as her tall tales was exposed to the Pride Lands. "Lemme go!"

Kiara could hardly even make her threat before Kaa let her go and sent her flying through the air, her limbs flailing about as she cried out in panic. Sure enough, she crashed into a nearby bush and found herself dizzy. Her bottom hung in the air as she kicked her legs to wiggle free, hearing Kaa's chuckling at the sight much to her frustration. The princess tumbled out of the foliage with a cute yelp and landed on her bottom in a slapstick manner, contributing to her humiliation.

"Well, you did assssk me let go," Kaa hissed haughtily, slithering on up to Kiara. "Did I ask you to tickle me?" the princess bit back angrily, getting back up on all fours despite her shaken state. "You were jusssst talking sssssuch a big game," the sadistic snake swore smarmily, moving his head in front of his feline friend. "I only wisssh to tessst your adventuring ssskillsss for myssself." The contentious cub glared back at his smug mug. "Perhapssss it wassss a tad much for you."

"Perhaps you were just being a jerk," Kiara spat back in her anger, taking Kaa aback before marching off in a huff. The python smiled in amusement at how cute her little stomping looked along with the grumbling under her breath and had his tail slither her way. He made a big loop of a coil above the fussy feline before plopping it down onto her head and around her eyes. "Hey, what is it this time?" the princess protested when Kaa ceased her little march and kept her in place.

Kiara tried to persistently pry the scaly blindfold with her fore-paws as she heard Kaa slithering up on her right. "I sssssupposssse that I got a tad too caught up in my own fun at your exxxxpenssssse," she heard the python hissed just in front of her, "but that'ssss no good reassson to turn your back on a friend." The princess could hear a bit of remorse in his voice as she pushed off the coil bit by bit. "I have jussst the trick to help you with your feelingssss of frusssstratiiion."

With a grunt, Kiara popped the coil off her head and found Kaa looking her right in the eye when she saw the most bizarre yet beautiful thing. The python's two eyes began to flood with colorful rings that poured out from his pupil at a steady yet speedy pace. "Whoa," the princess was able to utter as the most luminous sight captivated her like a real rainbow in the sky. "Your eyes are so pretty." These very rings of color soon poured out of her pupils, reflecting the snake's own.

"Why, thank you for ssssuch kind wordssss," Kaa replied, maintaining eye contact with Kiara. "I get that a lot." The princess's mesmerized expression was one that never got old for him no matter how many victims fell under his thrall. The way all the colors overtaking the eyes. The way mouths hung agape. "I ussssse thissss little trick of mine to help my dear friendssss find their lossst ssssmile." It was all too priceless for the python. "I do hope that it helpsss you feel better."

"Yeah, it... it is," Kiara said with her grin growing by the second. "I... feel so... happy." She could feel a wave of pleasure wash over her the more she looked at Kaa's wonderful eyes. The princess could feel any negative emotions within her soul whittling down to nothingness by a feeling of happiness. "I guess I should learn to take a joke better." She saw the python playfully swaying his head from side to side and found herself mimicking him. "I'm sorry making such a scene..."

"A youngsssster ssssuch assss yoursssself sssshould learn to laugh at yoursssself better," Kaa hissed, meticulous in controlling his hypnotic power. He'd usually overwhelm his victim's mind with his vibrant gaze and leave them in a mindless state of perpetual pleasure. However, the python held himself back so that Kiara was aware of the euphoria being instilled into her and all but allowing his manipulation. He wasn't sure of the details but his brain was cooking up a clever plan.

"You did throw me for a loop with that tricky tail of your's," Kiara giggled, following Kaa's eyes whenever they moved. She felt addicted to the colors pouring into her eyes and the fuzzy feelings they gave her. "Plus, I can't say I didn't sort of enjoy being tickled." Suddenly, the python mischievously lowered his head to the ground and made her do the same in her yearning for the rings. "And... I just can't get enough of those eyes of your's." Her tail started swishing in excitement.

"Ssssuch kind words from ssssuch a kind kitten," Kaa cooed, turning his head upside down slowly. He snickered at the way Kiara rolled onto her back in sync with him, exposing her furry belly with her paws up in the air. "Many cubs in the Pride Landssss turn away from me in fear yet you were fassssscinated by me right out the gate." The python allowed his tail to lightly tickle his feline friend's tummy, getting a giggle out of her. "It'sss good to have a friend in a new home."

A chuckling Kiara found herself enjoying the tickling this time around. "Like I said before, I'm not most cubs." Her paws lightly flailed about and her eyes kept looking into Kaa's. "I'm always looking for exciting adventures that let me laugh in the face of death itself." The perky princess rolled back onto her belly when her reptilian friend turned his head right-side up, her wide-eyed grin never changing. "Like almost getting swallowed alive by a snake and clawing my way out."

Kaa chuckled at the way Kiara clung to her brave explorer facade even when falling under his thrall. "I'd imagine your parentssss fussss over you conssstantly," he hissed, thinking about the grief Simba must get with a smile. He only wished the king himself was here. "You have no idea," the princess replied, still hooked on his hypnotic stare. "My dad would have a fit if he could see-" The python was surprised by the way his feline friend's grin dropped like a rock all of a sudden.

"Crap, my dad will be back any minute now!" Kiara exclaimed as she sprung back up onto all fours. She broke eye contact with Kaa and didn't even realize that the colors ceased to pour out from her pupils. "If Zazu's back there, he'll make sure my parents ground me for life." The princess looked back at her serpentine pal and found him seeming taken aback in a sense. "Not to bail on you like this but I just prefer to have a smaller lecture this time around, know what I mean?"

Kaa realized how he looked and put on his false demeanor of cordiality. "Oh, of coursssse I undersssstand," he promised rather hastily, still surprised by how she just abruptly broke out of her entrancement. "Besssst that your father issssn't too riled up." The python put on his friendliest smile and saw his feline friend off as she rushed past him. "I do hope that I'll ssssee you ssssoon on one of your little essscapadessss." A smirk couldn't help but spread across his smug mug.

"Oh, you can depend on it," Kaa heard Kiara reply jubilantly as she scampered off spiritedly. He made sure to wait a few seconds so she could be just out of sight and began to laugh like the malicious villain he truly was. The princess's naivety and reckless abandonment was too adorable for him. The python even got a kick out of how she wasn't modest in describing her fake intrepid expeditions. He hardly even needed his hypnosis in order to become worthy of her trust.

Kaa recalled how he was about to swallow Kiara alive and let her live out her final moments dissolving within his guts. It would've been such a delight to feel Simba's own whelp dying in such a horrify way and regurgitate what was left of her before the king of the Pride Lands. However, he can only sigh in relief now on his snap decision in sparing his plaything. His Majesty would suffer through his daughter but a far more satisfying scenario dawned upon the sinister snake.

He'd bid his time to enact it and have some fun with Kiara all the while.

* * *

**Kaa has found his newest toy in Kiara but it seems like she's not being immediately reprogrammed. Something much more insidious is afoot.**


	4. Father Knows Best

**Simba gives Kiara the by-the-number strict parental talking-to, unaware of Kaa's secret effect upon her.**

* * *

_Chapter 3: Father Knows Best_

Kiara let her head sink down less so out of shame and more out of aggravation as her father read her the riot act for what seemed like the umpteenth time. It was almost routine at this point with her returning to Pride Rock by night and finding him with his trademark hard look. The put-upon princess could only silently sigh while letting the king prattle on about how much he does to keep her safe and make sure she's ready to take up the throne. At this point, it was so boring.

"Are you even listening to me?" Simba demanded to know in his heated state of mind, finally getting Kiara to lift her head up. His daughter merely rolled her eyes drolly. "Well, you opened with 'you have disobeyed me yet again,'" she snarked back defiantly, "so I knew where it was going from there." The king sighed in utter annoyance at how dismissive the princess was being. "I'm guessing this is the part where I remind you I deserve a life outside of this glorified boulder."

Simba felt almost as tired as Kiara but stayed firm. "No one would have a big problem if you weren't so keen on endangering said life," he declared straight to his daughter's face. "If you're going to rule from this 'glorified boulder' one day, you can't just walk around the Pride Lands without some sort of protection." His little princess just stood back up to give a mean look back at his Majesty and strolled on away. "Yeah, because Zazu will always be down to fight off crocodiles."

Simba trained his glare on Kiara as she turned his back on him. "You better be going to the den, young lady," he all but ordered. "Why wouldn't I?" his daughter bit back with her usual sass. "I'm tired of these same old little chats of our's." She yawned in what almost seemed like in direct defiance. "Hope you don't freak out if I sleep in tomorrow, your Majesty." The King could only let out a deep sigh of weariness, the stubborn princess entering the cave while grumbling audibly.

"You know I seem to recall a similar sense of defiance from an old BFF of mine," Simba heard Nala state sassily as she came up along his right. "I know, I know," he snarked back in annoyance, "I just couldn't wait to be king and all that." He could only groan much to Nala's amusement. "Though from what I remember, it's hardly like you were always the voice of reason on our little misadventures." The king shot his own smarmy look at his wife, making her the one blushing all red.

"Kiara's not wrong about striking out on her own," Nala claimed while walking back to the den with Simba by her side. "We just need to help her prepare more for what's out there." She could see Simba frowning before giving a deep sigh. "It's what's out there that concerns me." The Queen could recognize that look from whenever her husband would wake up from a particularly bad dream. "We were able to wound him but a real monster never takes his defeat with grace."

Nala sighed sympathetically as she gave her husband a solemn look. "I know that you can't move past him yet," she promised with an empathic tone of voice. "I can still feel his coils squeezing the life out of me but this is no reason to hold out daughter back." Simba only sighed in response as they reached the den. "Nobody's spoken a word about him for years," he admitted, "but as far as we know, he's probably biding his time." His Majesty knew of that beast's patience.

"He's had plenty of time to strike back," Nala insisted, not even wanting to consider his return as a possibility. "Odds are that he'd gone on to claim another Jungle as his territory." Simba looked back at his wife with a doubtful gaze. "Much as I'd like to believe that, we still can't risk Kiara's life until she's old enough," he declared. They both entered the dark den and tried to keep their voice down. "I can ease up a little but Zazu'll still be on look out for her for the time being."

"Speaking of the old birdbrain," Nala mused while laying herself onto the floor, "did he already turn in for the day?" Simba came up along side her and began to snuggle up. "Oddly enough, he did just drift to sleep a while back," he replied noticing Kiara laying on her side further down to his right, much to his dismay. "He even claimed that he didn't even see Kiara in the slightest as soon as I met up with him." His Majesty couldn't help feel that something wasn't quite right here...

"He was always run ragged by us two back in the day," Nala yawned as she began to drift to sleep. "Kiara alone is really pushing him to his limits." Simba saw his wife begin to snore slightly before yawning himself and looking towards his daughter, knowing she was still sulking even in her sleep. "Goodnight, princess," he whispered softly, laying his head down to rest. What he couldn't have known was the silly smile stretched across her face as she faced away from her father.

* * *

_A ring of red followed a ring a green and a ring of yellow within a second as an entire rainbow poured out before Kiara. The bright rhythmic flow instill that special sense of satisfaction she felt when Kaa gazed down at her with his magical eyes and widened that goofy grin from cheek to cheek. It was as though all her troubles with her parents and insecurities of being herself no longer mattered. So long as she could be enthralled by the mesmerizing colors, the princess had the happiness she needed._

A cold drop of water falling onto Kiara's face suddenly was all it took to make her snap awake from her dream. Colorful rings flickered in her eyes as she blinked and felt another drop splash onto her head, causing her to spring up onto her feet. She grumbled silently about the leaking stalactites while wiping the water off of her and lamenting how her dream had been cut off so soon. The fuzzy feeling was starting to disappear yet still linger as she thought about Kaa's staring.

Kiara looked towards her father and mother sleeping side by side and saw that it was still in the dead of night outside Pride Rock. A thought had struck her that she could sneak out to find Kaa and sneak back before either of them could even suspect that she was gone. They'd always be on her case during the day but she now had a prime opportunity to sneak off alone. The princess began to silently make her way towards the den's exit, fully aware of the risk she was taking.

"Bring it on..." Kiara whispered to herself, smirking confidently.

* * *

**Kaa has wormed his way into Kiara's impressionable mind and has her addicted to his gaze. This cannot end well...**


	5. Girls Night Out

**While Kiara seeks Kaa, two lioness cubs wandering about way past their bedtime unaware of the fate that is about to befall them from high up above.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 4: Girls Night Out  
_

"Look, not that I'm not all for star gazing," Zuri began in her usual sassy tone, keeping pace with Tiifu, "but sneaking out of the den cannot end well." Tiifu giggled at her girlfriend's trademark fussiness. "Come on, Zuzu," she replied with her usual pet name, "I swear that this will be worth it with the spot I found." She loved the way Zuri blushed at her little nickname and pretended to hide it from her. "Yeah, I'm really sure that it'll be worth not being able to sit for weeks."

Tiifu chuckled at the memories of getting spankings for their little escapades. "When they wake up, it'll be as though we never even left," she swore right before surprising Zuri by nuzzling up beneath her chin. "It'll just be you and I under the sparkling sky, Zuzu." She saw Zuri pulled back and flushing bright red, a sight that Tiifu loved. "A huge field with nothing but grass beneath and the stars above." The cub beamed her brightest smile into her girlfriend's flustered face.

Zuri had to relent to Tiifu's adorable expression with a giggle of her own. "You're lucky you're just so darn cute, you know that?" she remarked while patting Tiifu on the head, making her lover blush this time. "Well, you could stand to mention it every now and again," the perky lioness cub sassed back while enjoying Zuri's affectionate pets with her tongue sticking out. "But let's save that for when we lay under the stars." She giggled eagerly while continuing down the path.

"How do you always do it to me?" Zuri sighed with a smile, rolling her eyes while rushing up to Tiifu. "Just don't expect me to lug your big butt back to the den if you drift asleep." She caught sight of Tiifu's flustered expression much to her delight, smirking in triumph. "Hey, you're one to talk," her girlfriend bit back with an adorable pouty face. "Your fanny is so fat that it nearly suffocated a badger." Zuri only chuckled in response and raise her eyebrow at Tiifu. "Jealous, much?"

The bubbly banter between Tiifu and Zuri was loud enough to rouse Kaa from his sleep up in the branches and get him to look down in curiosity. He was able to make out the giggling girlfriends down below as they neared his tree on their current path. The sinister snake found the couple too cute in their resemblance to Kiara and make a safe bet that they were both part of Simba's pride. A sadistic scheme began to take form in his mind as he set his sights on the adorable Tiifu.

"A midnight ssssnack?" Kaa haughtily hissed ever so quietly to himself, his tail slithering downwards. "How could I refusssse?"

"In all honesty though," Zuri began, her tone of voice becoming soft, "I do actually appreciate that you did this for me." She couldn't see Tiifu's little blush as her pace began to take her way ahead of her girlfriend unbeknownst to her. "Mom's been so busy with the hunt lately and too tired by the end of the day." The cub couldn't help but imagine what she could do with her love when they were alone. "I would be very lonely without that perkiness of your's to brighten my day..."

Tiifu easily felt flattered by Zuri and wanted to reply with her own affection when she felt something encircling her neck, making her gasp silently. The tendril slowly began to pull her up by the throat while the two loops gradually began to tighten their grip. The choking cub couldn't even wheeze quietly as she found her paws leave the ground gradually and could only looked on at Zuri. Her fellow feline walked and talked off up ahead, oblivious to her girlfriend's sudden peril.

"You can be such a ditz," Zuri chuckled while Tiifu's wide-eyed strangled expression slowly turned blue, "but you never fail to make me smile." Her girlfriend felt the scaly coils beginning to rotate her around during her ascension and looping around her body further. "Even if I might seem like a total killjoy on the outside." Tiifu felt her fore-arms pinned to her torso within a constricting cocoon of sorts in mere seconds. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you far more tha-"

However, Zuri found that Tiifu had all but vanished from right behind her and felt her affection being replaced with dread. She gulped hard as her eyes darted across the tree trunks in the dead of night, trying her best to keep her fear at bay. "Nice try, sweetie," the cub declared with sass to cover her anxieties. "Any second now, you'll pounce and pin me to the ground for a couple of surprise smooches." Needless to say, it wasn't working one bit. "I said, any second now..."

Tiifu yearned to cry for help like the damsel in distress she was but a barely audible wheeze was all that was able to pass through her mouth. The crushing grip around her throat was painful enough but the oxygen deprivation was beginning to sap the life out of her bit by bit. She barely had the strength to kick her two hind legs about with the rest of her body entombed within larger coils. The only thing the fearful feline could do was look down at a worried Zuri pacing around.

"Goodnesssss," a whispering voice hissed into Tiifu's left ear in a snide tone "Sssssuch a naughty little girl we have here." The constricted cub felt a new kind of dread instilled within her as her eyes darted around and couldn't find the source of this voice. "Ssssneaking out at nighttime behind mommy'ssss back now, are we?" Tiifu could hear the taunting voice slowly move from her left ear to her right. "It would appear that a hefty punisssshment isss in order for this deliquency."

Tiifu's terror only grew upon see a large python's head slither up into her face and smirk at her suffering. "One doessss not go into the wild without exxxpecting danger," Kaa hissed in her face haughtily, "and for that, the consssequencessss of your actionssss will be quite dire." She suddenly felt the coils tighten around her throat slowly until she couldn't even wheeze. "Let'ssss sssssee how long you can lasssst now," her captor chuckled, enjoying how she started turning blue.

Tiifu's eyes became wider once more with her mouth just agape enough to let a fly in, small hacking sounds escaping her crushed windpipe. She knew that her face looked ridiculous but her mind was still plagued with terror while her body felt more drained of energy by the minute. What hurt the most was how Kaa's smug mug was directly in front of her. The choked-up cub felt humiliating that her slow but steady death was but meager entertainment for the sadistic serpent.

"Tiifu, please!" Zuri suddenly shouted out loud, her voice clearly in distress. "This isn't funny anymore." All Tiifu could do in her attempt to cling to life was roll her eyes downward and catch a glimpse of her love pacing about in a simmering panic. "Get out her right now or you can forget about lunch tomorrow." Part of the coiled cub wanted to cry out desperately for Zuri to save her but another part of her wanted to urge her girlfriend to run away before Kaa could get her as well.

"It appearssss that you were foolissssh enough to drag ssssomeone dear to you into your little esssscapade," Tiifu heard Kaa hiss to her persisting dread. She could only look up to find him looking down at Zuri before turning back to her and smirking with an extra layer of sadism. "Perhaps," he coyly began with his cruel chuckling, "ssshe could serve asss an exxxxample of ssssortsss for you." His smug stare was like an extra spear to her chest before his head slithered off.

* * *

**Corrupting Kiara isn't enough. Picking off their pride will instill papable fear in Simba and Nala just before they become Kaa's ultimate meal.**


	6. Love Hurts

**Tiifu witnesses her beloved Zuri falling deep under Kaa's thrall. The sadistic serpent tortures the captive cub in his crushing coils with her, well, crush.**

* * *

_Chapter 5: Love Hurts_

"O-okay, sweetie," Zuri stammered as her racing heart pumped anxiety through her viens. "Y-you got me good this time." She darted her eyes everywhere for Tiifu while becoming more unnerved by the perpetual silence and the lack of anybody at all. The concerned cub yearned for nothing more than to see her girlfriend pop out of the bushes. She would make that giggle and beam her smile so brightly that it'd chase the darkness away. Everything Zuri loved about her.

Yet Tiifu seemed to have vanished without a trace. Zuri knew that her love couldn't keep quiet for a single second and would give herself away during a prank with a giggle she couldn't keep in. The only way she could be this silent is if... something had got her. The frightened feline began to recall tales of a python that preyed on cubs and couldn't shake the thought of a snake making Tiifu into a midnight snack suddenly. The sweetest smile in the savannah... swallowed...

Zuri shook her head furiously to deny such a horrible thought and swore to herself that such a cruel thing would never happen. Not to her Tiifu. She rationalized that she got too caught up in trying to confess while her lovable ditz of a girlfriend saw some pretty flower to sniff, splitting them up suddenly. The poor cub was probably scared stiff and waiting for her lover to save her. Zuri couldn't help but smile brighter at the thought of coming to her damsel in distress's rescue until...

"Looking for sssssomething, kitty...?"

Zuri's sharp ears made that soft whisper sound far more louder than it really was and sent shivers straight down her spine. "The night issss no time for such cute cubssss like yourssself," the voice continued as she turned around frantically to find its source. "The wild can be mosssst unforgiving to thossse who dare underesssstimate it." The lioness cub nearly forgot to breath upon seeing Kaa's smug mug descend towards her. "Esssspecccially for sssuch cowardly lionssss."

"Pl-ease... r-un..." Tiifu could barely choke out, desperate for Zuri to listen. The loop around her neck puffed up her cheek as she couldn't look away from Kaa moving in on her girlfriend. "Not... my... Zu-ri..." she wheezed out laboriously. Tiifu could feel the snake's maintaining his near-deathly grip around her, his scales rubbing against her fur. If not for the squeezing coils, she would be begging the python to torture her all he wanted should he allow the one she loved go free.

"I-I was just... looking for a friend of mine..." Zuri managed to stammer out while taking one step back at a time. "S-she's probably scared to death by now and I... gotta find her..." Kaa's face closed in on her as she kept her eye set on the sudden predator before her, finding it miraculous that she wasn't flat out freaking out. On the outside, that is. "I... don't suppose you've... seen her around..." Her previous theory kept racing throughout her mind despite her persistent denial.

"Maybe I have..." Kaa sniggered sadistically, "but I don't think you will again..." He enjoyed it when a victim tried to deal with their final moments by acting like they have a chance to actually escape. He found Zuri in particular to be very strong-willed in the face of the inevitable. "Of courssssse, I'd ssssay that you knew of that foregone conclussssion already." The python proceeded to trigger his hypnotic gaze at a very low setting. He wanted to savor every last second of it all.

Zuri ceased moving backwards upon seeing Kaa's eyes produce rings of multiple colors that seemed to radiate in the dark. Her fear gave way to curiosity as the strange phenomenon grabbed her attention. Every color was vibrant and bright. The way they each poured out one after the other in such a rhythmic fashion seemed to stir a strange sensation of delight within the lioness cub. In fact, her own eyes began to reflect them like a mirror as her vision also became colored.

"What are you... doing?" Zuri struggled to speak, frowning in defiance the best she could. She suddenly found herself unable to so much as blink. The colors were too... beautiful to look away from and prevented her from even turning her head away. "Your... eyes..." The cub could feel them washing over her with a wave of pleasure but she tried her best to keep from succumbing. She just knew this feeling of delight wasn't right, especially with Kaa smirking straight at her.

"They're intoxxxxicating, aren't they?" Kaa hissed haughtily, endeared by Zuri's resilience. The way her expression tried to maintain a frown but occasionally slip was a real treat. "A little gift to mosssst of my mealssss ssssso their final momentssss may be sssspent in pure blisssss." He brought his own face mere inches to his helpless little cub as her expression began to somewhat display the despair he desired. "Sssurely, it feelsss far better than being ssscared, doesssn't it?"

Even in a chokehold, Tiifu was speechless to see Zuri becoming more and more entranced as she recalled the legends told about Kaa's power. She wanted to look away by couldn't with the constriction clamping her head. Her girlfriend's knitted brows loosened every time she tried to frown while her mouth began to remain agape so mindlessly. Tiifu prayed that the strong-willed cub she fell in love with could snap out of it and just run away but knew her hopes were in vain.

"Ssssuccumb to your heart'ssss true dessssire, dear kitten," Kaa hissed smugly, swaying his head from side to side. Zuri tried to keep her resistance strong yet found herself unable to keep from mimicking such a silly gesture. "Let your fear jusssst melt away." Her frown indeed softened up as her helplessness became abundantly clear and the enticing euphoria began to take hold of her, making her feel... better. "And trussst in me..." Her mouth steadily curled upwards until...

*PING*

In any other situation, Tiifu would've loved the goofy grin spreading across the usually cool-headed Zuri's face but this wasn't that situation. Her heart sank as she could see her beloved giving into the hypnotic rings that flooded her wide and unblinking eyes. The silly smile stretched from cheek to cheek betrayed Zuri's usual defiance, something Tiifu had always loved about her. "Pu-lease..." she tried wheezing out in utter desperation, feeling weakened both in spirit and body.

"Now that wasssssn't ssssso bad, wasssss it now?" Kaa hissed condescendingly to the hypnotized Zuri. He admired his prey's submissive state like it was his very own work of art and consider it as such. Slowly squeezing his prey in his coils never failed to satisfy him with the power trip it put him on without fail but hypnotizing them was a special kind of satisfaction. No brute strength, no ambushing. Just a colorful gaze slowly eroding their will however strong it might be.

Zuri didn't answer Kaa except with her perpetuating smile drinking in his hypnotic gaze like a hopeless addict. She could remember being afraid of the serpent yet all that fear had melted away and had been replaced by an artificial happiness that she couldn't get enough of. It barely mattered whether or not Tiifu was safe. Kaa had come to make everything feel alright again. Her tail ever swished back and forth in a very excited manner in tandem with her growing excitement.

"Yesssss, it feelssss sssso much better to be happy," Kaa gloated as he started to slither around Zuri. "Far too good to let it go." His helpless victim turn around with him into order to not lose sight of his blissful gaze. "You yearn for it..." The python made a rather big loop surrounding the enthralled feline. "You crave it..." He closed it off to put Zuri's head into a sort of headlock with but a single thick coil, puffing her chubby cheeks up so adorably. "You simply can't live without it..."

Barely constricted, Zuri enjoyed the embrace with Kaa bringing his cheek up to her's. "Speaking of cravingsssss," Kaa began, side-eyeing his prey evilly, "you know what would make me happy right about now?" The helpless kitten's eye looked to her left as much as she could just to drink in more of those wonderful colors. "A sssssucculent ssssnack for my sssstomach." Zuri felt curious yet excited at such a suggestion while Kaa unlocked her head in slithering all around her.

Tiifu was so caught up in her fear and oxygen deprivation that she almost didn't realize that the big cocoon of coils containing her were descending downwards. "And I do believe I'm in the mood for a cute little kitty cat," Kaa claimed coaxingly, making Zuri blush. "You can provide ssssuch happinessss for me." Tiifu's heart sank to further depths as she was set just a few feet from the python and his victim. "All you musssst do issss ssssit and let your body become one with mine."

"Zu-URK!" Tiifu could only utter before Kaa gave her throat a sharp squeeze. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull while her mouth once more went agape. Despite the agony, the choked up cub couldn't keep herself from looking on as Zuri sat down with her goofy grin still stretched from cheek to cheek and craned up her head towards her master. "That'ssss a good girl," Kaa gloated before he stretched his maw open wide and brought it down upon his feline feast's head.

Witnessing it all barely felt real to Tiifu, even within the crushing coils. She couldn't shut her eyes as Kaa's maw continued to engulf Zuri's torso and begin lifting his furry meal up into the air, the helpless cub's legs dangling in the air. The python gave a great swallow as he lifted his head upwards and allowed gravity to help consume Zuri's lower body. Tiifu kept telling herself that this couldn't be happening all while her beloved's hind legs vanished right into the snake's gullet.

Kaa savored the flavored as he felt Zuri's adorable little hind paws slipped into his throat and closed his mouth to give one last gulp. He moaned in delight from how the lioness cub traveled down his body toward his stomach and really enjoyed how happy the purring felt. He'd been divided between living prey wriggling within him and hypnotized prey enjoying their demise in terms of satisfaction. Either way, feeling his meal settling into his gut had always been his favorite part.

"Oh, don't be sssso down in the mouth about it," Kaa hissed as he turned towards Tiifu. "I ensssssured that her final momentsssss would be spent in blisssss." The look of utter devastation in her eyes had always been his second favorite part, assuming he had a captive audience so to speak. "It wassss the leassst I could've done." He brought over his gut to display the bulge that contained the ever entranced Zuri. "After all, you practically sssserved her up assss my meal."

Tiifu couldn't stop looking at Zuri as she wiggled ever so slightly inside the bulge and felt the guilt overwhelm her more than Kaa's coils ever could. "I imagine that you dessssire to join your beloved asss my nourisssshment," Kaa declared haughtily while Tiifu was still processing her grief, "but for sssuch a sssin, death would be letting you off far too eassssssy..." She felt too numb about it that she barely noticed how the coils loosened up their grip and dropped her like a rock.

Tiifu was snapped straight out of her funk upon her crash landing and felt far too frazzled as she attempted to get up. She was particularly occupied by taking in precious oxygen before craning her head back up and finding Kaa staring back at her with his infamous rings of color pouring out of his eyes. Tiifu could only gasp in sheer surprise and back away a tad before her vision became flooded by these same colors, the rings pouring out of her own eyes at an alarming rate.

Kaa knew full well that Tiifu had been physically and mentally worn out enough to immediately fall under his thrall, making sure she kept her awareness. "You will go back home to mommy without ever letting her know of our little run-in," Kaa ordered, enjoying the cub's futile attempt at resistance. "Live out your life knowing the crime you had commited." The despair in her expression was more delectable this time around. "Let the guilt ssssshackle your heart forever more."

Tiifu felt utterly helpless when she began to step forward and make her way past Kaa. It was as if she was sleepwalking while wide-awake and fully aware, retracing her steps back to her den. What dominated her mind more and more was knowing that Zuri was being digested alive in the guts of a sadistic serpent all because she wanted to go stargazing. As Kaa had ordered, the guilt gripped her heart and welled up in her eyes as tears when she began sobbing silently.

Kaa relishing his craft as he heard Tiifu break down within his enthrallment, knowing that the survivor's guilt would eat her from the inside out. He told himself that she deserved it for foolishly frolicking out in the nighttime as if it were a playground and even bringing another into all this. The way the python saw it, he was practically doing her a favor as a good Samaritan would. He flicked his tongue out of pure excitement before picking up on a scent. An awfully familiar scent.

"My, what a naughty little princesssss indeed," Kaa hissed as he slithered out towards his left, eager to keep the night lively.

* * *

**As far as Kaa's concerned, the Circle of Life is little more than a fairy tale. It's eat or be eaten in the lawlessness of the vast wilderness.**


	7. That Sinking Feeling

**Kiara seeks out Kaa before she finds herself in a sticky situation with no way out but down below.**

* * *

_Chapter 6: That Sinking Feeling._

Kiara scurried along in her excitement but managed to keep herself from rushing. She was use to disobeying her parents in going out with nobody but that was during the daytime. There was a special kind of thrill in sneaking out at night that made a silly smile stretch across her face even without Kaa. In fact, she was willing to risk being caught if it meant she'd meet the amazing creature again. She could still remember feeling the bliss his pretty peepers had imbued her with.

At the same time, Kiara found herself fascinated by how serene the savannah was when the sun went down. The stars shimmered in her eyes while the crickets sang a lovely melody for her ears. Part of her wanted to lay down on the grass and take it all in. Another part of her kept two paw ahead of the others in order to seek out Kaa and maybe share it with him. The princess was so caught up in her own little world before a loud "PFFFFFFTTTT" managed to disturb it.

The crude noise sharply got Kiara's attention as she found that her front paw had stepped into mud. Needless to say, she was curious enough to step herinto the mud again and found it replicating the flatulent sound by pushing the air bubbles up. The princess giggled in her immaturity as she scampered across the pit and made it sound like she was passing gas with every step she took. However, her laughter came to an end when found herself stuck in an awfully deep step.

Kiara felt her joy morph into dread as she tried to pull both of her hind legs out of the mud and felt them beginning to be pulled back downwards. It didn't take long for her to find her fore paws becoming sucked downward slowly but surely. Her dread soon gave way to terror as she realized that she was becoming all swallowed up by quicksand. Her chest heaved in her hyperventilation while both of her pupils shrunk as she felt her body being consumed inch by precious inch.

Kiara gritted her teeth as she wriggled about in an attempt to turn around and go back the way she came. "Come on, princess," she urged herself silently, "you are not going to go out like this." She scowled in trying to push her fears aside and began to trudge her legs through the muck. "You're not some dime-a-dozen damsel... in distress," the plucky princess panted, trying to motivate herself. "You... are the future Queen." Her heart beat quickened by the second. "Act like it!"

However, all of that bravado was snuffed out when Kiara felt her hind legs becoming fully engulfed by the quicksand. As she pressed on, her butt became fully submerged and only had her swishing tail sticking out. The periled princess gasped upon find the mud creeping right up her torso with both of her fore-arms feeling awfully stiff. "Oh, please... not like this..." she begged to whatever god was listening. "Not like this." Her eyes began to tear up despite her best efforts.

"Appearssss that you've found herssssself in over your head oncccce more," Kiara heard being hissed from her right. "Sssuch a nasssty habit." She immediately saw Kaa slither up by a tree hanging over the pit with a cheeky grin on his face. "Kaa!" she exclaimed with a huge smile shining through her despair. "I've been looking everywhere for you." She kept herself super still to keep from sinking. "Think you could lend a tail?" the princess asked, blushing in her embarrassment.

"Sssshould I though?" Kaa asked rhetorically, raising his eyebrow. Kiara naturally responded with a look of confusion. "You alwaysss talked yourssself up assss quite the adventurer that I only asssssumed you could take care of thissss yoursssself." The expression of hesitation on the lioness cub's face was priceless to him. "Well... yeah," she began to stammer, "of course but I..." Kaa tisked tisked rather mockingly. "Ssssurely, thesssse oddssss are but child'sssss play for you."

Kiara knew that she needed to get out of this alive by any means and felt the quicksand remind her by slowly pulling her down. However, she wanted so badly to prove to herself as well as Kaa that she wasn't some feeble princess in need of constant protection. The fearful feline soon spotted a vine hanging from the tree near Kaa and how it was just low enough to bite onto. She gulped hard and insisted that she could save her own skin. It'd be nothing for the queen to-be.

"Oh, I'll show you child's play," Kiara declared with a smirk before trudging towards the vine. She grit her teeth with how it felt like moving through actual mud, especially with her torso and fore-arms half submerged by now. The princess kept her eyes on the prize as she planned to bite down on the vine and pull her whole body up from the muck, giving the python a big shock this time around. She grinned confidently as she came within one single foot of the vine and... stop.

Kiara found that she could only move her neck ever so slightly with the rest of her body immobilized beneath the quicksand. "No..." she could only utter as the dread began to return in full force. "No please..." Her eyes widened as she felt the muck slowly come right up her chin and stared back at the vine in distraught. She was so close to saving herself with it but now, it was practically mocking her for failing big time. "Not like this..." She craned her head upwards desperately.

"Ssssso near yet sssso far," Kaa taunted, pretending to sound concerned Kiara. "I wasss hoping you could've pulled it off but fate'sss a cruel missstresss asss the ssssaying goesssss." He could barely hide how much he was enjoy this. All the python could see was the princess's head in the middle of the bog wearing the most terrified expression on her face. The way she slowly sunk was simply sublime combined with the tears welling up in her eyes. "Farewell, princcccesss."

"No, wait!" Kiara cried out as she felt the quicksand encroach upon her cheeks slowly. "Help me, Ka-!" It only took a second for her face to slip under the bog and force her to close her eyes. The doomed lioness cub held her breath on reflex despite how much she knew it was only delaying the inevitable. She felt her body being dragged under inch by inch while entombed in thick muck and the urge to take in air growing. There was a harrowing kind of helplessness to all this.

Kaa could see the bubbles surface and pop one by one as he imagined Kiara clinging to life despite her despair. "Sssseeing you go out like thissss issss indeed delicccccioussssss in and of itsssssself," he mused for a few seconds before making his decision, "but it issssn't quite assss good without Ssssimba." There was nothing the python wanted more than to make the king suffer through his own family but telling wasn't as good as showing. "Consssssider thissss one on me."

Kaa plunged his tail into the quicksand quickly and managed to feel Kiara's furry belly before coiling around it with his immense strength. He actually grunted a lot more as his tail pulled out against the bog itself and soon got the princess's face to resurface. She spat out all the muck that she nearly swallowed and snorted whatever had gotten up her nose. Her eyes shot open with utter disbelief that she was actually alive while the rest of her body was slowly recovered.

"No need to thank me," Kaa gloated while setting the mud covered Kiara onto the ground. "It'ssss jussssst that it would've been a sssshame to cap off your essscapadesss in ssssuch a dower manner." He uncoiled her body as both of her hind legs collapsed on themselves. "I sssuppossse a pretty little princcccessss like yoursssself needs a sssstrong man to protect her assss-." His self-congratulation was cut off by the sound of Kiara starting to sobbing ever so inconsolably.

Tears dripped from Kiara's eyes as she could still feel her body trapped beneath the suffocating quicksand, almost as immobile as a rock. She wouldn't have just died but disappeared off the face of the Pride Lands like an insignificant ant being stepped upon. Neither her mother nor her father would've known of her fate. The put-upon princess especially felt humiliated for needing Kaa to bail her butt out. She could only assume that he was embarrassed to witness such a failure.

However, Kiara's sob session was soon disturbed by a big leaf being rubbed against her face much to her surprise. She found the mud caking her face being mostly cleaned off and a familiar scaly tail using the leaf itself for just that. Soon enough, Kaa's face came into her view with his colorful rings pouring out from his eyes along with an awfully warm smile. The princess's eyes began to reflect this hypnotic gaze back as her despair began to give way to a false pleasure.

* * *

**Kaa barely needs his hypnosis to manipulate Kiara when she's doing half the work.**


	8. Let The Mind Games Begin

**Kaa takes Kiara to get her washed down while he emotionally manipulates her mind, using her desire to be a true queen against her.**

* * *

_Chapter 7: Let The Mind Games Begin  
_

"No need to cry, my little kitten," Kaa hissed in a maternal manner, beginning to slither off from the quicksand. "A good ssssoaking in the watering hole will rid you of that nassssty muck if you jusssst follow me." He looked down towards his right where Kiara was quickly keeping up with him, her eyes hooked by his hypnotic gaze like a gullible guppy. "In the mean time, allow my eyesss to ssssoothe your sssoul." The python held back his smirk in trying to seem sympathetic.

"They're still so... beautiful," Kiara softy spoke in her enthrallment, smiling softly as well. "I was so sad before but... now I just feel so good." Her eyes were quick to reflect each ring of color beat for beat and color her vision in an ever shifting rainbow hue. "Ssssuch tearssss were unbecoming of a sssspunky little thing like yoursssself," Kaa soothly claimed. "I wassss awfully ssssurprissssed to see you were reduced to ssssuch a sssstate with all of your essscapadessss."

"You shouldn't be," Kiara replied with a hint of melancholy. "I talk a big game but... in the end... talk is all I am." Despite the artificial bliss imbued within her, she couldn't forget such an recent near death experience. "I just... wanted to impress you but... instead I nearly died in the more pathetic way imaginable." Her grin made her come off as more sheepish than upset. The hypnosis gaining more of a foothold on her while allowing her enough awareness. "Some queen I'll be..."

"Queen?" Kaa remarked, pretending to be caught unawares. "Ah, sssso you're the precoccccioussss princcccesssss the Pride Landssss have spoken about." He spoke the truth partially with how he had hypnotized the info out of a few meals of his. "I musssst ssssay that you're far more adorable than otherssss give you credit for." The python loved the bright blush he put on Kiara. "You ssshouldn't sssell yourssself ssshort with how you sssurvived sssinking in quicksssand."

"Only because you bailed my butt out," Kiara retorted with a bit of sass, still enjoying Kaa's eyes. "I'm meant to be next in line for the throne but I was flat out helpless in that bottomless pit." She sighed as her slight depression gave way to admiration in looking at Kaa. "I wish that I was really just like you with how fearless and powerful you are." The python chuckled sheepishly at such a compliment, even throwing in a blush. "I wanna smirk in the face of danger and feel-"

Kiara was cut off by her own yelp while falling straight of a small ledge and face-first into the watering hole. His rings of color dimming down, Kaa cackled at such classical slapstick before Kiara bubbled back up to the surface. She sputtered out water while gasping for air and was quick to shoot a dirty look at the sniggering serpent. "Tell me you didn't do that on purpose?" The put-upon princess demanded, sounding somewhat amused despite trying her to be ticked off.

"A good cold ssssplassssh helpssss me get out of a funk mysssself," Kaa replied with a snicker, trying to sound innocent enough. He began to slither his tail up towards Kiara while enjoying her precious pouting. "Assss for that mud all over you," he began, "it'sssss adorable but ssssimply mussst go." He soon surprised the princess with his tail coiling around her belly and got her to look down in confusion. "You'll ssssoon be sssspick and sssspan for your folksss in the morning."

Kiara cried out in utter bafflement as the coils hauled her out towards the water and dunked her in deep. She barely had time to hold her breath and flailed all about within Kaa's grip when she felt the scales scrub against her. The princess even felt her body rotating within the ever shifting coils and being cleaned up of all the grime still clinging to her. It was such a rush that she nearly forgot to breath before a few big bubbles escaped her mouth suddenly, her pupils shrinking.

As if in response, Kiara found herself hauled back up over the surface and gasped in precious oxygen. "You're suppose to treat royalty with delicacy in case you didn't know," she declared verbosely as she was brought back to Kaa in his coils. "Well, you ccccertainly have the attitude of a real queen," he snarked back. "Ssssadly, you've yet to look the part," the python cheekily claimed as his little princess found herself being hauled back into the drink before she could protest.

Kiara nearly felt her heart leap out her chest before being dunked under water and struggling to keep any more bubbles from escaping her mouth. Next thing she knew, the coils around her torso sharply pulled out of the water while causing her whole body to spin in her submersion. The whole cocoon unraveled as the lioness cub still helplessly rolled like she was caught in a whirlpool. She didn't know whether it was fun or frightening but did know that she needed oxygen.

When the spin cycle ceased, Kiara's eyeballs were practically rolling around every which way while bubbles pours out her mouth. She felt so dizzy that her body floated to the surface and allowed her to gasp in air. Despite her mind feeling all loopy, the pissed off princess had enough to give Kaa a piece of it once she suppressed her urge to barf and returned to dry land. However, she can barely even regain her bearings when her whole body was hoisted out by a single coil.

"My, you ssssseemed like you were having a blassssst," Kaa remarked, trying to sound envious. "At leasssst, I assssume it wassss quite the russssh." He had his eyes flooded with the radiant rings of color while making eye contact with his loopy little princess. "Ssssstruggling to hold your breath while being sssspun around in the water sssseemed fun," He held Kiara by under both her armpits while carrying her and coiling his tail back down her torso. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Kiara found herself hooked by Kaa's rainbow-colored rings and her eyes mirroring its very glimmer. "Come now, princccesss" Kaa cooed, "where'ssss that kitten who cravessss a good thrill?" The serpent's spell was still light enough to let her think for herself but potent enough to influence those very thoughts. "At the very leasssst, I helped clean up niccccely." A soft smile appeared on Kiara's face once again. The annoyance she felt at Kaa shifted to something more pleasant.

"With you, it's like my fear turns into excitement," Kiara confessed, imbued with the bliss Kaa's eyes regularly provided. "If I was as really bold and brash like you, my dad wouldn't be so protective of me." The coils shifted around her to both dry her off and massage her, contributing to her pleasure. "I could hunt really big game and face impossible odds with a cocky grin, escaping death by the skin of my teeth." The princess couldn't help gushing while keeping up eye contact.

"If your father'ssss assss sssstubborn asss you make him out to be," Kaa replied with fake sympathy, "it'll take a miracle to convince him." He was enjoying the feel of Kiara's drying body within his coils when an inspired scheme clicked together in his head. "Let'ssss sssssupposssse he were to bare witnesssss to you defeating a vicccciousssss beassssst threatening hissss life." The snake moved his head up to his furry friend cheek to cheek. "A beasssst not unlike mysssself."

"That's... brilliant," Kiara exclaimed, quick to catch on as her smile widened. Kaa's eyes had slowly ceased its hypnotic gaze ever so subtly "We could blindside him on one of his rounds if we're just sneaky enough." Her enthusiasm made her scaly smile himself before it was tempered by a sudden thought. "Unless he sees that we're faking it right out the gate." A slight frown appeared upon her face for the first time in a while. "My dad might be real dumb but not that stupid."

"We'll jusssst have to put on a pretty enthralling performancccce then," Kaa replied confidently before loosening up his coils to allow Kiara to slip through. "The kind that getssss the heart pumping." He didn't even bother stifling his snigger when she yelped and crashed landed with all fours sprawled out on the grass. "I'll teach you to be unwavering in your confidence and show you what it means to fight for your life." The python could only smirk in envisioning his true plans.

"You really think I could pull it off?" Kiara asked, shaking herself down while picking herself up. "I tried in the quicksand but lose my nerve almost instantly." She was caught up in her uncertainly until Kaa's tail stroked the top of her head affectionately. "You sssstill presssssed on desssspite how ssslim your chancccesss were," Kaa hissed reassuringly, looking the princess in the eye without any colorful tricks. "I ssssssaw the potential of a true Queen unlike that fool of a father."

Kiara blushed from Kaa's reassurance and almost wish he was her father. "Of courssse, I wouldn't want to sssspoil ssssuch ssssurprissssesss for you yet," he warmly claimed. "Run along back home before your folkssss noticccce anything'ssss amissss." Kiara nodded in agreement while getting back up on her paws and starting her sprint back home slowly. "Tomorrow, I will train you to prepare for the worsssst I have to offer sssso long asss you give me your very besssst."

Kaa looked on as Kiara shot back one of her cocky grins. "Believe me, I'll be the best student you've ever had," she vowed, picking up speed until the python couldn't see her in the distance. "Ssssuch a lovable little tomboy, isssn't ssshe?" he couldn't help speak aloud, glancing down at his stomach's bulge. "Far too headsssstrong for her own good either." The sinister serpent could feel Zuri stirring in her trance as the digestion process was starting much to her misfortune.

"The perfect reccccipe for the perfect predator..."

* * *

**Kaa has an idea for the ultimate vengeance upon Simba and Nala, one worse that merely being slowly strangled to death.**


	9. Peril In The Pride Lands

**Simba goes from one nightmare to another when disappearances are reported across the Pride Lands. Meanwhile, Kaa becomes bold in his hunt for food.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 8: Peril In The Pride Lands  
_

_Simba laughed heartily as he scampered about the Jungle like the cute cub he was. He didn't know what he was going to find but knew that it felt so good to be free. Free from responsibilities and especially free to have fun. The precocious prince was eager for excitement when one look into the treetops made his heart sink in dread. His sprint slowed to a stop as he saw a panther fully cocooned by awfully familiar coils. The predator's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets as he was strangled...  
_

_Simba's eyes went wide themselves as horror and guilt both washed over him, the panther uttering what could barely pass for wheezing. He began to back away when Kaa's head suddenly dropped down before he knew it and looked him in the eye with his hypnotic rings of color. "Thank you for sssserving up my lunch, my ssslave," he hissed haughtily. The lion cub felt like he was hyperventilating as he struggled desperately against the powerful gaze. "It would indeed appear I've taught you well..."_

_"NO!" Simba shouted, shutting his eyes to snap out of the trance. He rushed off in the opposite direction without caring as to where he ended up. His eyes darted all around for any sign of Kaa whatsoever until he looked ahead and skidded to a stop almost instantly. His heart sank at the sight of a bear laying before him and bleeding out with his throat practically shredded to bits. The lion cub's horror only grew as he looked down at his paws and found them to be all drenched in the very blood. "No."  
_

_"You might tell yourssself that I made you do it," Kaa's voice hissed, sending shivers down Simba's back, "but all you're doing issss running away asss usssual." The lion cub turned all around frantically to find the serpent himself but to no avail. "You murdered with no real reasssson and go off to sssstart a family assss king." He felt these words hit him right where it hurts the most. "What would your father sssay?" That phrase in particular brought him to tears. "You're no better than Ssscar."_

_Simba tried his best to not cry pathetically when he heard someone approaching behind him. "D-Daddy?" he heard, getting him to turn around swiftly. Kiara was by a few feet away from him with the most horrified expression on her face with tear already soaking her furry cheeks. "How could you?" she asked in her heartbroken tone of voice. Simba looked back down to find his paws still soaked with blood and right back up to find his daughter backing away, looking at him like he was a real monster._

_"He made me do it!" Simba stammered as he stepped towards Kiara. "I was like a puppet to him!" His distraught daughter just stepped away as if scared that her own father would take her life next. "There you go, deflecting your guilt," Kaa hissed all around the lion cubs. Simba stopped upon spotting the python come into view just behind a oblivious Kiara, his head looming over her. "Yet you know full well that you don't desssserve sssssuch happinesssssss." The young king's heart sank in dread._

_"Ssssooner or later, your ssssinssss will come back to punissssh you," Kaa claimed as Simba saw his maw become wider, "and sssshe'll be the firsssst to ssssuffer." He cried in terror as he saw the snake's jaws sharply descend upon Kiara before _his eyes snapped wide open. The king drew in sharp breaths as he found himself in the den and the dawn's sunlight illuminating his surrounding. His heartbeat continued to race as the night terror remained fresh within the adult lion's mind.

Simba hung his head and shut his eyes out of shame. It was the same type of nightmare he had for years on end. At first, Nala was the one almost swallowed alive but Kiara was taking that position more recently. He didn't need Rafiki to tell him what it meant when his mind would spell it out through Kaa. The king of the Pride Lands began to stand back up when he noticed that neither Nala nor Kiara were anywhere near him. His heartbeat raced as he assuming the worst.

"Good, you're awake!" Simba heard Nala call out. "I was going to let you sleep in but something's come up." He looked towards his right and saw he come into the den much to his relief. "Zazu's just came back with the morning report and found out about a few disappearances." This previous relief was swiftly stripped away as the king's face sank into a frown. "Who's gone missing this time?" he asked. He was hoping to hide the effects of the night terrors with a calm facade.

"Adongo's been searching for Zuri all morning," Nala said, heartbroken for a close friend of her's. "Some of the other lionesses have spread out already but it doesn't seem like her daughter's turned up." She lowered her gaze, feeling so helpless and frightened. "Do any of her friends know anything?" Simba asked, coming over to nuzzle with his wife for comfort. "I know Tiifu was very close to Zuri." The two looked each other in the eye, sharing their solemn second as one.

"The poor girl seems too broken up about it to even speak about it," Nala sighed. "Everyone I spoke too is beginning to fear the worst with these vanishings." She could hear Simba's tense gulp. "If they were eaten, something would've been left behind but it's as if they were erased from existence." Her eyes widened upon the most horrifying thought suddenly crossing her mind. "Unless they'd... been swallowed..." She looked up at Simba to find his expression mirroring her's.

"What's all the doom and gloom about?" Kiara's voice rang out, disturbing the tense atmosphere. "You sound like it's the end of the world or something." Both of her parents immediately looked her way and found their daughter coming from deeper in the den. "Where have you been?" Simba sternly demanded from his daughter, getting a perplexed frown in return. "Um, from the stream for my drink," the princess sassed back. "My throat dries easily in the morning, remember?"

Nala stepped forward to defuse any growing tension. "Things have been going crazy in the Pride Lands that have us worried," she explained, giving Simba a mean sideways glance ever so subtly. "We're going out to learn all we can and help in any way." The queen could see Kiara smile in excitement with her tail swishing so adorably much to her delight. "You just stay around Pride Rock and make sure that you stay safe." The princess's smile died down in her dejection.

"Can't I help?" Kiara whined, tired of being on the sidelines. "If I'm going to be queen, shouldn't I help my people whenever I can?" She could see Simba's expression becoming stern as she had expected. "If you're going to be queen, then you should know not to get in over your head at your age." The princess rolled her eyes at such a predictable response as her father turned around to head out of the den. "This time, you're not going anywhere without Zazu's word."

Kiara exchanged uneasy glances with Nala before her mother turned around to join her husband. "As if I listen to that birdbrain anyways," she snarked under her breath while walking away from her parent. The princess couldn't help but think about what Kaa said about them. They rarely bothered with teaching her how to face danger fearlessly to help her people. "At least, there's someone out there I can rely upon," she warmly said to herself, heading for the secret exit.

"Now where are you sneaking off to?" Zazu whispered to himself, observing Kiara with but one eyebrow raised.

* * *

"Zuri!" Adongo cried out for the umpteenth time, tears appearing in her distress. "Answer us!" The mortified mother looked all around the woods for her daughter but found nothing but trees and the critters living there. "Are you sure you tracked her scent here?" she asked her sister by her right as she sniffed the ground for her niece. "I can barely pick up anything in the air." The lioness felt a deep pit in her gut as she couldn't help but begin to fear the worst for Zuri.

Adanna sighed as she raised her head back up to her grieving sister. "It's faint but just along this way for sure," she informed, mirroring Adongo's fearful expression, "or at least it was when I found it earlier." She sighed in discomfort over what she was about to say. "Even then, the whole thing just goes cold further down like she, well, really did vanish into thin air." Adanna swallowed hard at the mere thought of it. "We... might need to consider that Zuri really was-"

"Adanna!" Ebele exclaimed from Adongo's left in a hushed but appauled tone of voice. "That'll be enough from you." Adanna looked towards her lover along with her sister and found the strong spoken lioness glaring daggers back at her. "Pessimism never solved anything." Ebele raised one of her eyebrows in an expression of disbelief straight towards her girlfriend. "Your sister needs all the support she can get in case you have forgotten." Adanna's head sunk in shame.

"Thank you, Ebele," Adongo warmly cut in with a slight smile before it faded again, "but I... really should brace myself for the worst." She hung her head and cast her gaze at the ground. The mourning mother didn't notice that her pace was becoming slower and slower like stepping deeper into tar. Anxiety ate away at her when something colorful shimmered in the corner of her eye. Just one single glimpse to her left seemed to quell most of her fears, piquing her curiosity...

"I know I crossed a line back there," Adanna whispered to Ebele, "but I really hope that we can find Zuri." She shared a worried look with her partner, relieved that Ebele wasn't holding it against her. "Sis has been more busy with the hunt lately so she's barely had time to connect with her cub." She felt helplessness seep into her heart more by the minute. "She acts so strong but I can't imagine what she's really going through deep down." A few tears appeared in her eyes.

"It's the same with my little Tiifu," Ebele sighed, recalling how her daughter wasn't holding up too well either. "She's trying to put on a brave face but it's all too clear she's scared of never seeing Zuri again." She can only slightly smile warmly before giving Adanna a coy look. "They think nobody knows that they're dating but even a warthog can see two hopeless lovers in them." Her girlfriend chuckled with her in agreement. "I just only pray the two may stay together after this."

Adanna smiled back at Ebele with her spirits lifted. "We'll just have to see to that," she declared with a touch more gusto. "Won't we, Sis?" However, her smile faded fast upon finding no sign of Adongo by her left or even trailing behind. "Sis?" Ebele looked behind her as well and similarly became increasingly distressed by the disappearance of her lover's sibling. "S-she was just behind us... wasn't she?" Adanna asked anxiously, fearing the potential answer as her heart raced.

"Stay calm, sweetheart," Ebele declared with a firm front while sniffing the air. "Adongo's still here but... there's something else." She turned herself around to follow the fresh scent as Adanna anxiously came alongside. "W-w-what kind of 'something else' are we talking here?" her love demanded to know, her voice quivering as the couple made their way towards the thick bushes. "Something... foreign," Ebele claimed with a hard swallow, following her nose very hesitantly.

As they reached the bush, neither Adanna nor Ebele could help the dread they felt upon hearing what sounded like wheezing and choking. They were both fast to rise over the plant and use their fore-paws to push down for a better view. What they stumbled across was almost too horrify to process for either one of them. There was Adongo herself totally pinned down upon her back with her entire body nearly encased within scaly coils that slowly slithered across her torso.

Both of Adongo's hind legs were free and barely moving in a pathetic attempt to escape as if she could just slip on through. Her fore-arms were stuck up in the air but could barely stay up. She stretched out her toes in a seemingly desperate attempt to gather air. Perhaps the most harrowing sight for Adanna and Ebele was how two sizable coils looped around Adongo's neck. She can barely manage to turn her head toward the couple with a desperate look in her bulging eyes.

"Help... me..."

However, neither Adanna nor Ebele could make out Adongo's pained plea with how they were still processing her plight. It was only a few seconds but just enough time for a python's head to pop up from behind the bush and into their faces. "I don't recall inviting either of you to my brunch," Kaa claimed with an indignant tone of voice. The two lionesses wouldn't backed away immediately but had the misfortune of looking into his eyes and the colorful rings pouring out.

Adongo let out a horrified hacking as she helplessly saw both Adanna and Ebele becoming enthralled by Kaa's gaze, their eyes immediately radiating the exact colorful rings that had lured her into his trap. Their faces started with an expression of perturbed puzzlement before a silly smile stretched across each of their mouths. "No..." she tried to cry out despite how much it hurt. "Don't... give... in-URK!" A sharp squeeze to her throat cut of her begging, her eye widening more.

"Thissss issssn't the lionesssss you were looking for," Kaa smugly declared to Adanna and Ebele upon putting them deep under his spell. "You musssst go back the way you came and completely forget that you had ever ssssaw anything here." He relished having control over two full grown lionesses and wished he had a big enough appetite for all three. "You never found Adongo nor any sssnakesss for that matter." They looked almost as cute as Kiara. "Do you underssstand?"

Adongo's heart sunk as she saw Adanna and Ebele nod mindlessly before turning around from the bush to walk back home, their dopey smiles never faltering. "Had they not've hesssitated," Kaa hissed maniacally, slowly turning his haughty gaze upon his prey, "they might've actually ressscued you." Adongo could only look on with a special kind of despair in her eyes as the serpent's head slowly descending towards her. "Fate truly hasssss dealt you a bad hand, hassssn't it?"

Adongo hacked a pathetic wheeze in an attempt to beg for mercy but found the strangulation sapping away her strength even further. She prayed that some sort of savior would rescue her but Kaa's sadistic smirk told her that her fate had been sealed. "Then again, you might not mind much becoming my meal," he hissed in her face. The way his tongue flicked at her added to her dread, knowing she was a morsel to him. "After all, you were ssssearching for your daughter."

Kaa took in the way Adongo's eyes shrunk slowly with a new wave of despair overcoming her. "Ressst asssure that I put her under my thrall to let her accccept her fate assss my midnight ssssnack," he gloated in her heartbroken face. "And what a ssssucculent ssssnack she wassss indeed." He tighten his grip around the mourning mother's chest to force air out through her coiled throat, making her wheeze painfully. "I can only hope her mother hasssss a more refined flavor."

The fact that her own flesh and blood had been eaten alive by the monster before her brought tears to Adongo's eyes in droves. All those times she left Zuri behind for the hunt flashed before her eyes. Times she'd never be able to make up for because she had allowed her little girl to become prey. She saw Kaa's maw widen before her eyes and realized that this was to be her penance. The lamenting lioness hoped to see her daughter soon as her head was swallowed.

* * *

**Kaa hypnotizes all around him to ignore him as he consumes his prey, making the Pride Lands a veritable smorgasbord.**


	10. The Quest Of The Queen

**Kiara becomes indoctrinated by Kaa as he trains her for their show and dance for her parents, the snake treating her like the doll she has become****.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 9: The Quest of the Queen_

"So you just swallowed her whole like it was no big deal," Kiara asked in amazement, a broad smile stretching across her cute face. She was sitting on the long bulge in Kaa's stomach as her reptilian friend slithered off towards one of the more secluded areas of the Pride Lands, letting the princess ride on him. "Well, I wouldn't sssay it wassss no big deal," the serpent replied with a chortle. "Ssshe put up a decccent fight and didn't pick her battlessss well in her arrogancccce."

Kiara grinned excitedly by how the bulge shifted about ever so slightly. "Seems like she doesn't know when to quit," she remarked in a rather cocky tone of voice. "Talk about your sore losers." The princess chuckled in glee as she laid down on the bumpy belly and felt the lioness's desperate struggle. "I don't suppose that you're going to teach me how to swallow my enemies alive." Her tail swished at the very idea. "It seems a whole lot cooler than mauling critters."

Kaa chuckled at Kiara's enjoyment of another's suffering, knowing how she'd change her tune if Adongo was close to her. "My, what an intriguing prosssspect," he admitted in delight. He couldn't help but be intrigued by the idea of Simba seeing his daughter become what he fears most. "Of coursssse, it'ssss bessst that we focussss on our little demonssstration for the king and queen for now." The snake turned his head around to take in the adorable sight of his princess.

"Whatever it is, you can do your very worst," Kiara declared to Kaa with an arrogant grin on her face. "I'm going to be a mighty queen like no lion was before." The serpent grinned back his little kitten with a subtle snigger at her childlike brashness, especially at how she spread her legs out ready for action. "Your attitude continuessss to earn my admiration, princesssss," he declared with a fake tone of reverence. "Let'sss sssee if your not all talk like at the quicksssand."

"Who do you think I am?" Kiara declared with a smug smirk. "Daddy's little girl?" She snickered sassily when Kaa's belly rotated to her left and caused her to slip off with a yelp, rolling onto the ground. "You'll be lucky to cry for mommy with what I have in sssstore." The princess managed to sit herself back up when Kaa had his tail make his way around her torso. Before she knew it, two loops had slithered all around her mid-section while pinning her fore-arms to her belly.

"It'ssss esssenttttial that our little performancccce hassss a compelling narrative," Kiara heard Kaa declare as his head soon came into view. "A precocccioussss princessss findssss hersssself in over head againsssst the mighty Kaa himsssself." She had been struggling against the coils as they traveled up closer to her throat and found her previous bravado being replaced by a growing anxiety. "He capturessss her in hisss sssstrongesssst coilsss for hissss midday sssssnack."

Kiara swallowed hard as she felt Kaa's tail pass over her shoulders and loop twice around her throat, restricting her head's movements. "T-this story does have a happy ending... right?" she managed to spit out nervously, uneased by her scaly friend's mischievous smirk. "The besssst kindsssss are the onessss that are earned after a fair sssshare of ssssstruggling." It didn't help that she felt her hind-paws leave the ground and a more thicker coil loop around her pelvic region.

Kaa couldn't help but hold Kiara aloft like a glass of wine and adore how his precious princess looked in his classic coil cocoon. He had her wrapped up from her neck to her thighs with both of her hind legs lightly flailing all about below and an awfully worried look on her face. "Come now, my kitten," Kaa hissed warmly. His lovely colorful rings poured out from his pupils while keeping eye contact with Kiara. "Ssssssurely, thisssss embracccccce of mine will pleassssse you deeply."

Kiara felt her anxiousness become molded into delight once she laid eyes upon the radiant rainbow pouring out from Kaa's eyes. "It'ssss sssso intimate," he hissed soothingly as she began to smile softly. "Within them, you might feel ssssafe from all that may harm you." The Pride Land's princess felt the coils shift about back and forth to firmly massage her body, enhancing the semi-trance that Kaa had her immersed in. "No more worriesss for the ressst of your daysss..."

Kiara purred affectionately during her full body massage as Kaa's grip with just tight enough to really dig into her. At the same time, it didn't put pressure upon her chest in its semi-constriction. The colorful rings that reflected in the cutie-pie cub's eyes allowed her enough self-awareness so she would always remember this slice of paradise. She couldn't budge even an inch yet found herself not minding as much, especially with Kaa's gaze right before her feeding her happiness.

"Yesssss," Kaa hissed, endeared by Kiara's content appearance before him. "Our heroine can't help but allow the coilssss to relaxxxx her assss the sssssnake toyssss with her, building ssssusssspencccce for the audiencccce." He was enjoying how soft and cuddly the princess's fur coat was, her purring being the big cherry on top. "One might be foolissssh enough to believe that thissss villain issssn't ssssso bad after all." He slowly tightened his grasp around the cub's body.

Kiara didn't notice how tight coils were getting until she found her purring turning into wheezing and felt the squeeze on her throat growing. Her smile began to slightly faltered as her mouth opened out in her strained attempt to take in air. She felt the constricting grip around her entire torso increase in pressure and forcing air right out of her very lung slowly but surely. A big wave of dread tried to overtake her happy mood while breathing was becoming more of a challenge.

"If we're to convincccce the king and queen that their daughter'ssss ready to rule," Kaa hissed somewhat sadistically, "then your body mussst endure all of the ssssstrength my coilssss have to offer." He loved the shade of blue appearing on Kiara's frightful expression as it complimented her bulging eyes and gaping mouth letting small gasps out. "Ssssure enough you will be a fearlesss queen-to-be, never oncccce caving to a sssscaly sssscoundral ssssuch assss mysssself."

Kiara could feel her fear morphing into a strong sense of determination the more she looked into Kaa's radiant rainbow eyes. "Our heroine musssst never allow hersssself to sssshow weaknesssss even in the facccce of sssssuch overwhelming odds." She remembered the way she bawled like a baby after surviving the quicksand and how she vowed to never be that scared little kitten ever again. "A great queen mussst bide her time and hold out for jusssst the right moment."

Kaa could see Kiara's worried face morph into something more firm as her brows knit. "Her adversssary will eventually decide to conssssume her alive if sssshe would rather be difficult about giving in," Kaa continued with his story outline before breaking eye contact. "Deccciding to savor hissss meal, he decidessss on sssswallowing her bottom firssst to ssssslowly work hisss way up." He was confident in his influence lingering as his head sank down to the bottom of the coils.

Kaa sniggered at the sight of Kiara's flailing hind-legs and flicked his tongue to taste her succulent scent. "Can the plucky princesssss find the right moment to sssstrike?" he narrated dramatically, moving closer to the adorable pair of paws. "Or issss her fate to be little more than a ssssnake'ssss nourisssshment?" He slowly began to open his maw while positioning himself just below the princess's posterior. "One good kick with her hind clawsssss jusssst might do the trick..."

Kiara could feel the lack of breathing taking its toll on her mental stamina but was sharp enough to take the hint. She gritted her teeth while feeling Kaa's bad breath hitting her paws, directly below so he could gulp down her legs and let gravity do the rest of the work. The lioness cub was determined to prove that she wasn't some damsel in distress to be rescued and get a good swipe at Kaa's cheek with her paws. She had just unsheathed them when all of a sudden...

"BRAAAAPPPPTTTT!"

The whole Pride Lands practically echoed when Kiara let out a brass toned fart much to her surprise. She had been so focused on getting out of Kaa's grip and enduring his tight squeeze that she overlooked how the constricting coils were irritating her bowels until it was too late. Sure enough, the pooting princess's shade of blue turned bright red in her embarrassment over how she passed gas right into Kaa's face before finding all her coils coming undone all of a sudden.

Kiara let out a big, "Oof," upon crash landing on the ground after slipping out of the cocoon's loosened grip, flat on her belly with all fours sprawled out. She gasped in air while springing back up to her paws and heard retching noises from just behind her. The princess turned herself around to find Kaa looking more green in the face and letting his head stumble about in the air, moaning sickly. "Whoops," the lioness cub apologized, red in the face with a really sheepish grin.

"Well," Kaa tried to speak while straining to keep his lunch down, "I'll... give you thisssss." He could still smell the rank stench as if it had embedded itself into his tongue and sinuses. "It wasssss ssssuper effective to ssssay the leasssst." It was a challenge to keep what was left of Adongo from spewing out of her mouth. "Though between you and me," the sickly serpent stated, suppressing the urge to barf better, "I much prefer a claw to the facccce if you wouldn't mind."

Needless to say, Kiara just up and burst out in laughter over the whole silly scenario. "No argument here," she managed to get out through her guffawing. "I don't think dear old daddy would approve weaponizing my glutes." Kaa found himself smirking at how the princess fell onto her back while clenching her gut, letting out the last of her laughs. "Ssssuch a tomboy," he hissed in amusement. It was embarrassing but he felt that she deserved childish moments like these.

They were soon to become her last...

* * *

**When Kaa expected an attack from behind, I doubt this was what he had in mind.**


	11. A Feathery Feast

**Rehearsals continue on until a horrified Zazu comes across Kaa strangling Kiara. At a loss of what to do, he soon falls prey not to Kaa but...  
**

* * *

_Chapter 10: A Feathery Feast_

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Zazu sighed wearily as he scanned the ground for Kiara. "Between Simba and Nala, those two were bound to create a kitten with their youthful delinquency combined." He had lost the princess some time back after monkey's flung what he only hoped was just mud at him out of mischief. "At this rate, she's probably in the belly of the beast quite literally." He could still remember Simba's song and dance. "Why, I'd have half a mind to ju-"

Zazu cut himself off upon spotting something down below that nearly made his eyes pop out in sheer horror. He gasped at the sight of Kiara all wrapped up in the coils of rather large python, the likes of which were almost unheard of in the Pride Lands. The blue shade on the princess's strangled expression made his heart sank as the coils were slowly becoming tighter around her body. The appalled avian spotted a budge in the snake's gut, meaning the cub was seconds...

Zazu zipped downwards into the trees nearby and tried to remain relatively composed enough to land by the roots. He managed to peak out from around the trunk just enough to see the snake's sadistic expression and hear his taunting as he tortured Kiara. The mortified bird had known that the princess needed a good dose of harsh reality but seeing it for himself made him regret making such a wish. Especially when her captor was none other than THE Kaa the Python.

* * *

"Endure my presssssure," Kaa hissed in an evil tone of voice, feeling Kiara's furry body squeezed by within his grip. "Ssssstruggling will only hasssten your death." He held Kiara back up in the air within his coils with only her head sticking out on top and her legs dangling below. "Even the mosssst ssssadisssstic of enemiessss will get board after a minute or two at leassst." His eyes radiated colored rings at a slighter intensity, allowing the princess to keep her awareness.

Kiara did her utmost to hold her breath as her bulging eyes became bloodshot around her shrunken pupils. Her teeth were gritted as Kaa's hypnotic gaze fueled her determination to endure the arduous constriction crushing her body and squeezing her throat. Despite her torture, the plucky princess imagined Kaa as a true enemy arrogant enough to take on the future Queen. She vowed to never appear like a terrified little girl even when staring at the face of death itself.

"That'ssss the ticket," Kaa hissed excitedly. "Jusssst one lassst minute." There was little more he loved than putting Simba's own flesh and blood through the wringer before his very eyes. "Be defiant to whomever daressss sssseessss you assss a damssssel in disssstressss." The image of Kiara all coiled up never got old but seeing her turn every shade of color was picturesque by far. "Prove to the Pride Landssss here and now that you are not like other girlssss, my Queen."

Kiara could feel her reaching her limit as she felt the urge for air take its toll on her big time. She fought to keep eyelids open even as they drooped and keep herself from passing out. The persistent princess imagined how Simba would always talk down to her and reprimand her attempts at independence. She told herself that she'll prove him dead wrong once and for all as her mind began to get fuzzy from the oxygen deprivation. Just as her eyelids began to close fully...

They snapped back open once Kiara felt the coils loosening around her and letting her whole body drop to the ground within the fraction of a second. She took in oxygen by reflex with one deep breath after the other while still laying on the ground. "I... wasn't... done... yet..." she declared with gritted teeth, beginning to get back up on all fours despite her weariness. "Just... need... one... more... minute..." Every large breath she took sounded as if they could be her very last.

Kaa lowered his head to see Kiara stumbling about in her fatigue and did his best to put on a look of concern. "Our little sssshow will be a busssst if you were passssss on rather than passsss out," he hissed with concern, looking his little cub in the eyes. "A good Queen can pussssh her limits but assss of now, you're still a princcccesssss." Kiara's breath steadied as she looked back at him with a weariness both physical and mental. "Well, maybe I don't want to wait so long."

Kaa snickered at Kiara's impatience while his eyes let his hypnotic colorful rings pour out. "Even I wasssssn't born with the sssstrength I posssssessss now," he hissed, steadying the output of his radiant rainbow gaze, "sssso you can't exxxxpect our training to be done in a day'sssss time." The serpent secretly loved the way the princess's face always went blank when her eyes reflected his pulsating rings of color. "Jusssst imagine the reaction from your father and mother..."

Kiara could feel her exhaustion whittling away as Kaa's hypnotic gaze instilled an artificial happiness in her weary soul. Her friend's words of encouragement only fueled this elation further and caused her tail to swish about. However, this bit of delight would be disturbed when she picked up on an all too familiar scent with her sharp nose. "Uh oh," she muttered in annoyance as her nose took in more of the odor. Kaa raised his eyebrow in curiousity. "Smell like company."

Kaa tasted the air to pick up the distinct scent of Zazu from a nearby tree and frowned deeply. "If that old fuddy-duddy ssssnitcccched on usss to your folksss," he whispered into Kiara's ear, "the whole sssshow will be ruined forever." The near pout on Kiara's face was simply adorable. "Well, I'll be sure to take care of him," she declared quietly, following the scent towards the tree by marching with a huff. However, the sadistic serpent stopped her by grabbing her tail with his.

"Not alone, you won't," Kaa declared with a sadistic smirk, his colorful rings pulsating. "You just follow my lead if you want him gone..."

* * *

"Steel yourself, Zazu," the anxious advisor told himself, pacing about like crazy. "Just think this through." He gulped at his mind couldn't help but think of Kiara's suffering with his constant delays. "Go back to Pride Rock and you'll get the king himself to rush to the rescue within seconds." Zazu began to head back where he had came before slowing to a stop. "Meanwhile, the princess's swallowed alive like an afternoon supper and the scaly scoundrel slithers off without a trace."

Zazu shook his head furiously at what he spoke aloud. "Well, what else am I suppose to do?" he indignantly retorted to himself. "Fly out to face THE Kaa mano-e-mano on the slimmest of chances that he won't make me an appetizer?" The feathery fellow groaned over how his head literally felt like it was tearing in two. "I might as well be committing suicide." He rubbed the temples of his head with his wings in aggrivation. "That migraine is truly Simba and Nala's cub, isn't she?"

"An awfully adorable migraine," a voice suddenly hissed out, "to be exxxxxact." Zazu shrugged in a slight agreement with a slight eye-roll. "I suppose that one might be endeared by her rambunctiousness but-" He ceased speaking altogether and felt his heart sink into dread, his eyes widening in but a second. "You're right behind me, aren't you?" he guessed despondently before turning around slowly, finding Kaa smirking down upon him. No words could describe his despair.

"J-just the reptile I was hoping to speak to," Zazu declared, stepping back from Kaa's sadistic smirk bit by bit. "I was flying over head when I noticed that you had the princess in your tight grip." He was determined to not let himself appear but knew he could only do so much. "The princcccessss?" Kaa hissed in a fake curious tone of voice. "Assss in of the Pride Landsssss themselvessss, you mean?" Zazu swallowed hard as he couldn't tell if the serpent was buying his words.

"Neither the king nor queen will appreciate your consumption of their own flesh and blood," Zazu stammered, failing to present some semblance of dignity. "It would be wise to avoid their wrath and refrain from ingesting royalty." He gulped hard as Kaa slowly slithered forward to keep up with his pace. "Spare her and I can assure you that I-I-I won't tell a sole about your presence here." All he could think of was how easily the predator before him could just swallow him alive.

"I ssssupposssse I have no reasssson to doubt your word," Kaa declared with a sinister tone of voice, the kind Zazu knew had scheme ready to be sprung. "Sadly, I'm afraid somebody I know might not feel the exact same way." The avian advisor was confused by what the serpent meant until he heard a giggling from right behind him. "Why, hello, Kiara." Next thing he knew, a pair of paws had his wings pinned to his sides and lifted him off the ground with a strong grip.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zazu demanded before he recognized the paws in his horror. "What have you done to Kiara?" The sight of Kaa smirking smugly only added salt to his wounds. "I'd ssssay that you sssshould be far more worried about what he hassss in ssssstore for you." Zazu quickly craned his head up to find the princess sneering down upon him like a field mouse she had just caught. "Your highness?!" he meekly said when she licked her lips so carnivorously.

Everything seemed to happen all at once when Kiara opened her mouth wide and crammed Zazu into it head first. "Yesssss," Kaa encouraged sadistically as he observed the princess slowing down, "do away with that pessssky bird." The way both talons flailed about was a treat to the eyes before her highness began to pull his whole body down with her throat alone. "He'sssss helped your parentssss hold you back all thessssse yearssss from being the queen you truly are."

Kiara found herself enjoying Zazu's squawking for once as every gulp she told pulled him down her throat. It was a true rush to have the royal advisor at her mercy and begging her this time around. She finally made one last swallow to take in his talons and shut her mouth to allow the big bird to travel down to her gut, feeling him wriggle about to her delight. The princess looked down to find her belly bulging and smirked just like Kaa, having put Zazu where he belonged.

"Ssssuccch ruthlesssssnesssss," Kaa hissed in a very impressed tone of voice as he slithered forth. "Ssssuccch power." He truly was amazed by how his little protege performed all this with only a bit of his brand of pursuasion. "You truly do have the makingssss of a queen, your majessssty." He lowered his head to look at Kiara's bloated gut with more genuine intrigue. "Might I alsssso add that your technique wassss quite nicccce for a beginner ssssuch assss yoursssself."

Kiara smirked back while smacking her tubby tummy with triumph. "I had a great teacher for inspiration," she declared, feeling Zazu still put up a fight. "I only wish that I had the nerve to do this a long time ago." Kaa could only speculate that his subtle hypnosis was having an accumulative effect on Kiara's attitude. He wasn't just wiping her mind clean and making her a mindless puppet. The python was perverting her mind from the ground up to make her more like himself.

The cherry on top of the perfect revenge.

* * *

**Kiara consumes Zazu with little remorse as Kaa sees to it that she becomes the splitting image of himself.**


	12. All The World's A Stage

**After all their long training, Kiara is ready to put on a show for her parents but doesn't realize Kaa made more than a few changes to the script.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 11: All The World's A Stage_

"One minute Fuli was just next to us when we were teaching her how to hunt," Gwala stammered in his frantic tone of voice, "and the next it was if she had vanished from the Pride Lands altogether." He was pacing about before Simba and Nala with his nerves unsettled outside of his den. "Ife and I searched all over the area but her scent seemed to have gone cold as well." The freaked out father tried to steady his breathing. "Please, your majesties, we can't lose ou-"

Nala was quick to put her right paw on Gwala's head to stop his pacing. "We can't possibly imagine the grief you must be feeling," she empathetically claimed, "but panicking will only just make it all worse." She got him to finally sit down and could only hope her own anxieties weren't showing as she gulped hard. "My husband and I will do everything in our power to find Fuli and bring her back to you both." The Queen hated lying easily, exchanging worried looks with Simba.

"How exactly... did Fuli disappear?" Simba asked, taking over for Nala. "You didn't look away for but a moment and-" However, Gwala was quick to interrupt the king. "That's just the thing," he claimed quickly. "She was actually going ahead of us in our view and then we found ourselves sitting with our daughter blinked out of sight." His Majesty gulped hard, starting to put it all together. "It's like we had both spaced out but Ife insists that an hour passed by her sense of time."

Simba and Nala exchanged looks of growing anxiety as they were almost afraid to ask one last question. "Was there anything unusual going on before or after you two had blanked out?" He almost didn't want to know the answer. Almost. "Well... there was a strange unfamiliar scent like... a reptile if I might venture to guess," Gwala managed to recall. "Though what was stranger was how we felt a lingering sense of bliss just before realizing Fuli had only just gone missing..."

Nala swallowed hard in an attempt to put on a brave face. "Thank you for telling us all we needed," she declared, bowing her head in respect. "Be sure to stay by your wife's side in this trying time while we go find Fuli for you." Gwala bowed back in return, making a slight smile of comfort. "Please bring her back safely." The Queen smiled warmly back at the cheetah before turning around and letting her anxieties appear all over her face along with Simba, sighing despondently.

"It's cruel to give those poor souls false hope," Simba lamented with a growing scowl. "They'll keep thinking Fuli's out there when-" He briefly paused in his frustration before Nala spoke up in an awfully stern tone of voice. "Telling them that their only daughter's being digested alive inside a python's guts would just devastate them." Her words cut particularly deep into her husband as she glared back at him awfully sharply. "Better false hope than shattering their hearts..."

Simba could only sigh deeply in resignation. "You're always so quick to set me straight," he confessed wearily. "I don't know how you can stay calm at a time like this while I'm consistently having nightmare of..." The king couldn't bring himself to even utter the name and swallowed shamefully. "The King and Queen need to appear calm at least," Nala reassured him warmly, "or else the entire Pride Lands will be rife with chaos and give that monster exactly what he wants."

Simba could tell that Nala was more wracked with anxieties than she let on. "You're not the only one who's had that beast haunt their dreams," she mentioned, sounding more vulnerable than before as her husband suspected. "Even now, I can't ever forget his grip around me and how much I needed to breath." The Queen swallowed hard in an attempt to stay calm. "It's unbearable but it always reminds me of how our subjects are suffering and why they need us urgently."

Simba felt bad seeing Nala's solemn expression before deciding to be the stronger one this time. "Then we'll just have to snuff him out once and for all," he declared with the cockiness he was known for as a cub. "If he wants to get to us through those we care about, let's show him just how much we care." Nala looked his way with a surprised look in his eyes, taken aback by his gusto. "He might be a crafty creep but if we find him, he will be no match for our teamwork."

Nala couldn't help but smile back at Simba in return, her spirits lifting already. "Whether hyenas or snakes, we laugh in the face of danger," she declared before sharing a classic, "Ha ha ha!" with her husband. "I always did love that about you," she continued warmly, sharing bedroom eyes with Simba. Before they knew it, they shared an intimate nuzzle between them and took some comfort in knowing they had each other. They both pulled back before moving in to kiss when...

"Ah, yuck," a familiar voice called out, "talk about bad timing." Their moment disturbed, Simba and Nala immediately turned their heads towards the source and find a grossed out Kiara coming their way. "No offense but that's gonna be in my nightmares for weeks." The king was the first to frown sternly and march up to his daughter. "No offense but you're not even suppose to be out here period." He found his growing glare being countered by the princess's rather sassy smirk.

"I just thought that if I'm gonna take over the throne when you croak," Kiara surprising snarked, "I might as well learn from the professionals." She strolled on past Simba, surprising her father with her casual defiance. "Zazu's flown the coup and there's no way I'm getting bored to death by Mr. Mystic Monkey's life lessons." The princess could even see Nala eying her like she couldn't even recognize her own daughter. "Sorry but your stock speeches won't cut it this time."

Nala could only exchange a brief glance of bafflement with Simba. "What on Earth's gotten into you?" she asked Kiara as her daughter sauntered past her with such defiance. "You know how dangerous the Pride Lands have become lately?" The plucky princess sneered back at her mother with the most devil-may-care attitude. "Why do you think I'm here?" she rhetorically asked before swinging around dramatically. "The future Queen's gotta help her homeland, doesn't she?"

Simba cringed at how Kiara was practically exactly like himself back in the day, suddenly sympathizing with Zazu. "You two have been holding me prisoner while you aimlessly try to find this phantom predator," the princess proclaimed, putting her right paw on her chest so haughtily. "That's why I'm hear to show you how it's really done and prove that I'm more than ready to rule." She could hear soft hissing and recognized her cue. "I will maul this mysterious beast all by myself."

Nala could roll her eyes in frustration over how difficult Kiara was being. "That's quite enough, young lady," she sternly declared. "We are going back to Pride Rock and you're... not..." Her voice trailed off when she noticed a scaly tendril slithering towards her own daughter. The fear in her grew at a steady pace the memories of breathlessness flashed before her eyes. "getting into... danger..." The tail began inching over from behind the lioness cub and up toward her neck.

Simba was puzzled by Nala's mortified expression until he saw the tail beginning to encircle Kiara's neck. "You're just worried I'm gonna prove to be a better hunter than you," she declared as her father's heart sank. "Unlike you boring grown-ups, I laugh in the face of danger." He couldn't forget the color of those scales even if he tried. "HA HA HA-URK!" The princess's prideful proclamation was cut off when the tail squeezed her throat and made her eyes nearly pop out.

"LET HER GO!" Simba shouted loudly as he bolted toward Kiara along with Nala. They were ready to bit the tail clean off before their daughter could pass out from the strangulation. His mind was so focused on saving his own flesh and blood that Kaa's head popping up a few feet in front caught him off guard. Before either he or Nala knew it, their eyes made contact with the serpent's radiant rainbow gaze and found themselves slowing down in their sudden entrancement.

"Sssstand sssstill, old friendssss," Kaa hissed with the most sadistic smirk yet. "I'd hate for you to sssspoil the sssshow." He kept still as Simba and Nala came but two feet short of him with their eyes reflecting the colorful rings he was pouring out, their expressions of dismay plastered all over their faces. "That'ssss more like it." The python felt the most satisfied seeing their faces tensing up in each of their attempts to break free, the pair now prisoners in their own bodies.

Simba recognized the overwhelming power of Kaa's hypnosis but found himself baffled that he could still think clearly. "How terrifying it musssst be," the snake gloated right up in the King's face. "Your mind knowssss what you mussssst do yet your body can't even move a musssscle." He strained to scowl back as the serpent's smugness and felt the urge to tear out his throat greatly but could only let it simmer within his soul. "Sssso mucccch more ssssatissssfying in my eye."

Nala couldn't tell if it was the fear leaving her frozen or Kaa's eyes as he turned right for her. "It'ssssss one thing to ssssee prey's mind molded to my whimssss to my ssspell with ssssuch ssssilly ssssmilesss," he told the Queen as the terror of his coils raced through her brain, "but I would say it'sss a whole other thing to allow them exxxperiencccce my ssssuperiority, wouldn't you agree?" She felt little more than the terrified little lioness cub Simba was defending from Hyenas.

"Jusssst asss your daughter will," Kaa hissed in a most diabolical tone of voice as he pulled his head back. Simba and Nala each realized that they had been so focused on the python's return that they nearly forgot that Kiara was being strangled right in front of them. Their despair grew once they saw their daughter's front being lifted up by the neck by the snake's tail until her hind legs left the ground. Seeing their own flesh and blood gasp for air broke their heart collectively.

However, Kiara was grinning triumphantly internally even as she had to endured Kaa's tightest tug around her throat. It was worth it for that expression on Simba and Nala's faces alone. Sure enough, she felt Kaa spin her in the air to weave his more thick coils around her body and pin her fore-arms to her torso but leave her hind legs conveniently alone. The princess felt dizzy seeing the world turn all around her and swore her eyeballs were rolling around every which way.

"How I adore the bravado of a lion cub," Kiara heard Kaa snigger into her left ear as she regained her bearings. "Alwayssss quick to prove themsssselvessss by biting off more than they can chew." She found herself held upright within Kaa's tight coils and both of her parents standing up as still as a pair of statues. The hypnotic rings in their eyes made Kiara smirk with how helpless they had been rendered. However, the mood was ruined when her coils began the big squeeze.

Simba and Nala prayed for mercy when they bare witness to Kiara all wrapped up in a cocoon of coils that began to put the pressure on her. They could see her mouth agape as air was pushed out of her lungs and hear gasping wheezes being the only thing she could utter. Both her eyes were wide open and borderline bloodshot with a blue-violet hue beginning to overcome her entire face. The king and queen wanted little more than to rush in and save their precious princess.

Yet Kiara relished Kaa's constriction as she felt her mentor give it all he had in order to make their play as convincing as possible. She conserved her oxygen as much as she could and endured the painful pressure encasing her body. It never got easier but Kaa managed to train her to last longer than most prey by now. She knew that both Simba and Nala saw her as little more than a helpless kitten but also that they would change these views drastically come the grand finale.

"Why, one could feed their ego with easssse with how impresssssionable they are," Kaa hissed with a diabolical laughter, tasting Kiara's delectable scent. "Far too muccch easssse if I might sssspeak from exxxxperiencccce." He could see a sort of dread forming in the princess's eye, telling him that she could sense that something was amiss. He smirked at how too little too late. "Mother alwayssss said not to play with my food but... I never was a very good boy to be very fair."

Kiara thought that this was all part of Kaa's theatrics to stoke fear in her parents but couldn't help find this all too... real for her. "One lessssson I neglected to impart onto you, my plucky princcccesssss," he declared with a maniacal grin upon his face, "never trussssst a sssssnake." The lioness cub felt a wave of total confusion mixed with dread when she saw Kaa's maw opening wide before her eyes. It finally became crystal clear once her mentor's mouth engulfed her head.

Simba and Nala felt as though it was all just one big nightmare the minute they saw Kaa swallowing Kiara's head. His coils loosened up enough for him to gulp down their daughter's upper body further like a banana from the peel and practically lift her out of the cocoon with his strongest swallow. Before them, the princess's posterior was put on display hanging out of the serpent's mouth when he paused to breath and soon disappeared into his gullet within one second.

It soon sunk in that this was a nightmare that had come true when Kaa slurped up Kiara's hing legs and tail as if they were noodle. All of their fears of Kaa returning mixed with their daughter getting into deadly danger were all wrapped up in one big horror show unfolding before Simba and Nala's eyes. The snake made another strong swallow to allow the bulge that had once been the princess to head down toward his stomach, plunging her parents into further despair.

"Mmmmmm," Kaa moaned from the lovely taste on his tongue. "Mealsss alwayssss tasssste better with a little anticcccipation... and plenty of desssspair."

* * *

**Kaa has exacted his revenge upon Simba and Nala with the cruelty that lives up to his reputation.**


	13. Damsels In Distress

**Kiara sinks ever deeper into Kaa's innards as the cruel reality dawns upon her soul. Will she accept her fate or fight back?**

* * *

_Chapter 12: Damsels In Distress  
_

"Kaa..." Kiara managed to let out feebly, "please..." Her body was still in great pain all over thanks to the constriction the python had put her through. "W-why...?" Not helping was the tunnel of pink flesh that she found herself being pulled downwards by the strong muscles contracting alone. She cringed as the innards coated her fur with gross fluids making it easier to slide her down and felt utterly helpless as the tight gullet proved itself just as confining as the coils.

That alone was too much to process but what Kiara found herself really hung up over was why Kaa consumed her so suddenly. They never once practiced a scene of her escaping from certain consumption since he explicitly came from below so she could make her scratch. It just didn't make sense that he'd just make her his lunch all out of the blue. He was her best friend. The only one she could ever truly trust as a father figure. Yet here she was, sliding toward his stomach.

"No..." Kiara muttered as she tried her utmost to deny the possiblity. "It's... not... true..." She shut her eyes as tears began to leak through. It was all a big joke for Kaa at her expense. "This... can't be... happened..." No matter how much she tried to rationalize it, her so-called friend didn't seem to be regurgitating her any time soon. She wasn't a queen. She wasn't even fit to be a princess. All she could do was sob how she'd became what she was in the end: snake food.

* * *

"The flavor never failssss to ssssatissssfy," Kaa hissed lovingly, smirking at the moving bulge that was Kiara, "and feeling them within my body issss the real sssspicccce." He secretly lamented that he'd never be able to have such an adorable little doll to play with but knew full well that his revenge would be far more worth it. "Don't get me sssstarted on how the young onesss wriggle about ssso desssperately." The snake shortly heard a frustrated grunt by a few feet away.

"Let... her... go..." Simba grunted through the strong hypnotic hold on his mind. Kaa was more than pleased to find the mighty king trying to maintain a scowl despite his inability to budge an inch forward. "She... got... nothing... to..." To the left, Nala had the most devastated look in her eyes. "...to do... with us..." Kaa even mulled over freeing the mother from his thrall all so she could break down crying. "She's... only a... cub..." However, he knew exactly who to keep focus on.

"Yesssss, sssshe issss only a cub," Kaa hissed while getting all up in Simba's helpless face. "Your cub ssssspeccccifically." He drank in Simba's fiery front, just knowing that it was a mask for the whimpering cub beneath it all. "Haven't you wondered why I waited all thissss time?" The king's eyes showed uncertainty in spite of the hypnotic rings pouring out. "Did you honesssstly think that I would jussssst sssslithered off to repent my evil waysss after you had humiliated me?"

Kaa had to hold back his maniacal laughter for the right moment. "I wanted you to have a loving happy family that meant the world to you," he hissed, seeing his Majesty's falter in his scowl. "A loving wife with a ssssshoulder to lean on." He glanced over towards Nala's tearful expression, being the emotional female she was. "And a precocccccious daughter that drivessssss you crazzzzy." The snake lifted part of his gullet up to display the moving bulge that contained Kiara.

Simba's fierce facade fell upon seeing the wriggling bump sliding down Kaa's gullet. His eyes widened while his jaw went slack, unable to fully process it all. His own daughter had been... swallowed alive and reduced to a simple snack. No matter how much the king wanted to disembowel the serpent and let his precious princess spill out unharmed, his body remained as stiff as a statue. His old "master" has every intention of witnessing his own flesh and blood consumed whole.

"Tell me now," Kaa asked, eager to rub some extra salt in. "What do you know about digessstiiiion in the ssstomach?" He shifted his gaze towards Nala's more distraught expression. "It'sss a processs when my meal isss broken down by painful accccid, fluidssss that burn you until there'ssss nothing left." The pleading look on the mourning mother's face was pure satisfaction. "I'll ensssure that your little girl will feel her body dissssolve every sssecond of her final momentsss."

Horrific images of Kiara's final moments being spent in pain flashed in Simba and Nala's minds due to the hypnotic suggestion Kaa left them susceptible to. "I'd know becausssse I had all of the Pride Landsss to tesssst it out for mysssself." The king and queen felt a deeper kind of dread upon learning their subjects had been made into a veritable smorgasbord. "Poor little Zzzzzuri jusssst had to wake up right on time yet made the mossssst exxxxxquissssite ssssscreamsssss."

Simba felt Kaa's smirk stab him in the gut as the serpent looked by up in his face. "I can't take all the credit, of coursssse," he gloated, allowing Kiara to slide further towards her final resting place. "Her father caved into hissss paranoia and never even bothered to teach his little girl one thing about the real world." The weight of his actions only piled onto his Majesty's soul. "That poor princcccesss was sssso desssperate for the validatiiiiion you've conssstantly denied her."

All of his stern talking-to's were flashing before Simba's very eyes as he felt hoisted by his own petard. "Thankssss to you, Kiara ssssaw me asss the father sssshe had alwayssss wanted," Kaa hissed haughtily, drinking up the guilt that his majesty couldn't deny. "I made her feel like a true Queen while you ssssaw her assss little more than a helpless kitten that you couldn't bear to lossssse." He chuckled at the irony of it all. "Even now, you have been ssssuch good help."

Simba found himself back to being that little cub begging his father to get up, unable to hold back the tears any longer. "I'm ssssure you want to give me that tired old clicccche of how your family hasssss nothing to do with usssss," Kaa casually sighed, clearly pleased with his handiwork. "Sssssome sssssentimental ssssphiel about giving yourssself up oh sssso heroicly but alasssss..." The serpent smirked before he slithered past Simba's line of sight and hissed into his ear.

"...we both knew that'ssss never been an optiiiion."

Nala could only stay frozen herself with grief growing within her and a strained expression of sorrow across her face. All that time, Kiara had become Kaa's own little doll to toy with and her own mother never saw the signs before her. Her mind was practically lambasting her for tightened the noose itself around her own daughter. However, this lamentation just gave way to utter fear as Kaa moved his face up to the Queen so his sadistic smirk was but a inch away from her own.

"Of coursssse, you and I alssso have unfinisssshed bussssinesssss assss well," Kaa hissed eagerly, drinking in Nala's pathetic expression. "It had been you who broke my hold over my former pupil and dissssgracccced me with such a wound." He proceed to slither past the Queen's head and under her throat with a big bulk of his body coming forth with him. "A feeble female forgetting her place not unlike her own flesh and blood..." He created a solid loop around her throat.

Nala felt anxiety consume her soul as she felt Kaa's body moving around her neck without any kind of grip. "You do remember my embraccccce, don't you?" Kaa taunted maliciously. "How my thick coilssssss caresssssed your furry body assss if you were all mine." She felt her body cringe as the python slithered coils all around her torso and found them becoming thicker by the second. "There've been thossse who ssssought me out sssimply to experienccce the sssensssation."

Kaa lifted his head up and looked back to smile devilishly at his handiwork. He had one coil around Nala's neck like a noose at the gallows while four thicker coil followed around her torso, sliding around her body to really put her in his bulk. The best part was how he could feel her body trembling in utter terror over the inevitable. The overgrown kitten knew what was coming and that the serpent was sadistically drawing this out. He wanted her to marinate in her pathetic fear.

Nala shut her eyes the best she could in enduring Kaa's coils creeping around her body. They never tightened their grip but just the feel of his scales sent cold shivers down her spine and reminded her vividly of her own encounter. She wanted to beg and plead for her life but the words were trapped in her throat. She was still the damsel in distress Simba had defended when they were cubs from the hyenas. Suddenly... she felt all of her paws were being lifted off the ground.

Simba felt his own heart sink to newer depth upon seeing Nala being moved into his line of vision in a cocoon of Kaa's thickest coils. Only her fore-paws stuck out between two of the upper coils while her hind legs listlessly hung below. The expression across the Queen's face was of slight concern that betrayed the true terror coursing through her veins. The king felt like he was being blasted back to the past when she found him in the Jungle and freed him from Kaa's grip.

Except there was no chance of freedom this time.

Nala could feel both of her cheek puffed up by the thick coils around her neck with no way to move her head. "We were sssso rudely interrupted the lassst time, weren't we?" Kaa hissed as he raised his head into the Queen's field of vision. "Let'ssss take it from the top one lasssst time." It was then that Nala found her breath becoming more strained by the second and a pressure surrounding her as it only increased. "Nothing but the very finessst for my essssteemed Queen."

"No..." Simba strained to even make the sound as he couldn't look away. He could hear Nala's breathing becoming wheezing slowly but surely and the way the coils pressed against her body bit by bit. Her eyes became wider by the second as if they were staring into his soul and her mouth was only slightly agape in its challenge to take in any air at all. This was a constriction that he had become much more intimate with than he'd ever admit and remembered actually enjoying.

Nala soon found herself taking in less and less oxygen with the coil looped around her neck exerted more pressure by the second. The rest of her body felt far more pain like it was fruit being squashed for babies and sapped her strength slowly by surely. Her fore-paws and her hind-legs both stretched out their digits by reflex from the big squeeze itself. This was not like how she had remembered it. It was so much worse. Her eyelids began to droop down as death closed in.

The only thing Nala could look at was Kaa's head and the smirk that glowered down upon her. The sadistic look in his eye gave the Queen a newer sense of helplessness as he only let out a chuckle of amusement. It was all one big performance for him to enjoy. Her seriously strained breathing. Her bloodshot eyes. The way his coils puffed up her cheeks so ridiculously. The python had made her suffering into meager entertainment, a dark comedy with her as the punchline.


	14. A Gassy Gambit

**Nala relives Kaa's crushing grip while Simba looks on brokenheartedly. However, the python find his lunch isn't agreeing with him. Literally.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 13: A Gassy Gambit  
_

"Mom..." Kiara managed to say aloud. She could hear everything that Kaa was putting her through aside from the snake's statements being muffled. The princess could tell that the python was making her own mother suffer while she was helpless to do anything. However, she could barely feel any sort of anger in knowing full well that there wouldn't be anything she could do in or out of her "friend's" gut. The lioness cub sighed in resignation until she feeling a tingling.

Kiara gritted her teeth at the painful searing sensation slowly surrounding her body. It start as small burns but soon began popping up across her body. Dread came over the princess as she recognized Kaa's stomach acids beginning to digest her alive. "No... please..." she begged, feeling the burning increase bit by bit. "Not... like this." Her resignation gave way to a new sense of desperation. "I don't... want to die..." She shut her eyes tearfully and prayed for some miracle.

An awfully audible gurgling soon answered her call...

* * *

"I truly hope I don't dissssappoint you with an awfully quick death," Kaa hissed haughtily into Nala's strangled expression. "The Queen dessservessss nothing but the very besssst." He had almost forgotten how intoxicating it was to hold a full grown lion within his more bulkier coils compared to cubs. "I've trained myssself to pussssh prey like you to the brink of death and make it lasssssst assss long asss I prefer." He flickered his tongue to taste his victim's delicious fear.

Nala could feel that Kaa's was making good on his word within the coils he had her imprisoned in. She was stuck in a perpetual state of pain, pressure and a urge to take in any oxygen but one that was slowly dwindling like ice in a fairly moderate climate. The Queen could feel the flame of life flickering within her as it slowly began to dim. How long it would take depended on the serpent's amusement. Begging for a mercy kill would only be all too delightful... even if she could.

"Doessssn't thissss take you back, Ssssimba?" Kaa sighed nostalgically, turning his head back towards the king. "The way I trained your body to endure my grip wassss sssssucccch fun, wassssn't it?" He simply couldn't get enough of the desperate scowl spread across the king's face while getting closer to it. "If I recall correctly, you besssst wassss approxxxxximately fifteen minutes," the snake spat in his former feline friend's face. "Let'sssss sssse if your wife come closssse..."

Simba kept up his hard scowl the best he could under Kaa's spell. He was desperate to not allow his adversary the satisfaction of his despair but it didn't make things anything other than horrifying. He could see Nala's head poking out of the sadistic serpent's coils and the way her bloodshot eyes begged him to save her before it was too late. His eyes trailed down to spot the bulge in the scaly stomach that contained Kiara, his own daughter who was being slowly digested.

All Simba could do was witness the death of all he held dear, his body unable to lift a paw.

"Do you actually believe you desssserve your kingdom?" Kaa began to query, keen to crack Simba's front. "After all you did with me for all thosssse yearssss?" He slightly sniggered when he saw the king's scowl dropping into something more fearful. "Would your ssssubjectssss sssstay loyal if you had revealed your dirty little sssssecret?" The heartbreak forming in his Majesty's eyes was simply priceless as the snake slithered to the left ear. "What would your father think?"

The mere mention of Mufasa made Simba's scowl drop completely, his expression displaying his true heartbreak. "You may tell yourssself that my hypnosssissss made you do it," Kaa smugly stated, delighting in his Majesty's mortification, "but you recall how much you enjoyed it all, don't you?" The king couldn't help but remember every single animal he murdered with no regard for the Circle of Life. "Perhapsssss... all it took wassss a look in my eyesssss to let the real you out?"

Nala desperately wanted to cry out and urge Simba not to listen to Kaa's mind games but the crushing coils wouldn't even let her breath. "Sssssooon the Pride Landssss will be ssssshown thisssss ssssecret you've kept from them," she made out from Kaa in her dwindling endurance, "once you have made them all your ssssmorgassssbord." She could make the horrified look on her husband's face even as her eyelids threatened to shut, praying that her beloved will not give in.

"One look in my eyessss," Kaa declared with inspiration, "and your kingdom will become your hunting groundssss." He laughed villainously at Simba's straining against his ironclad freeze spell. "I will awaken the killer dormant within your sssssoul and sssssee to it that you enjoy every minute of it." The tears forming in his Majesty's eyes were the cherry on top. "Your father'ssss legaccccy will be little more than your dinner while you become my apprecenticcccce onccccce more."

Simba saw it all flash before his eyes to his absolute horror. Every subject who revered him after he defeated Scar. Every new friend he made during the Pride Lands restoration. All of them would become nothing but sport as Kaa brainwashed him into his enforcer. "Please... you... can't..." he began to beg desperately, his fearless facade giving way to despair. All that the scaly scoundrel responded with was a smirk of amusement, satisfied by how the king's spirit had crumbled.

"Oncccce I have sssssnuffed out your beloved," Kaa declared darkly, giving Nala another squeeze, "it'll be jusssst like the good old daysssss." He began a big maniacal laugh slowly but surely. "Try to look at it thisssss way," the sadistic serpent began, smirking in Simba's sorrowful expression, "they won't be around to bare witnesss to the real you." He finally burst out laughter over his revenge finally being realized and the power he'd just regained, everything going perfectly.

"Urrrppp!" Kaa suddenly burped to his surprise, disturbing his maniacal moment. Just letting out gas so suddenly was one thing but the python found it smelt of rancid flatulence with the flick of his tongue. His whole body cringed at the stench before he suddenly burped out yet another. He was caught in a mix of disgust and confusion even as he discovered the bulge containing Kiara vibrating to her awfully audible farting. It was like she was controlling every single one of them.

Simba couldn't help but find his despair give way to a feeling of utter incredulous upon seeing Kaa burping out farts. His head jerked every which way as gas erupted from his gullet and made its way to the king's nostrils. Even frozen, Simba cringed deeply and tried to hold his breath but could hardly keep his eyes off of the python's strange case of indigestion. His heart began to fill up with hope. He could still recall a rather infamous gesture of rebellion Kiara had once pulled.

"That little bi-" a nauseating Kaa began to vehemently declare before he felt his gullet convulsing. The bulge that contained Kiara was traveling up his body as he hacked and coughed almost involuntarily. "No..." the python begged as he felt the princess returning to his throat. "This can't be..." However, before he was able to process it all, both of the cub's hind paws popped right out of his mouth as his maw started to stretch open much to his dismay, muffling all of his pleas.

Nala was so shocked by the way Kiara's hind legs slowly began pouring out from Kaa's mouth along with her tail. So much so that her constricting coils seemed small potatoes compared to the miracle that she was witnessing. The Queen would notice when the coils began to loosen up and allow her to draw in precious air before Kaa's nausea caused them to unravel further. She crashed to the ground in but seconds and could only lay on her side after the coils worn her all out.

Simba barely noticed that Nala was freed as Kaa vomited out the rest of Kiara's body in a single hurl and allowed the puked-up princess to fall to the ground. She fell upon her back with her entire coat of fur soaked by the serpent's fluid and rolled back on all four of her paws, taking in precious oxygen. The king could see that his daughter was weary from the constriction by her unsteady posture but also how she pushed herself through it all and scowled with determination.

Simba couldn't have been more proud of his own flesh and blood in that moment in time, flatulence and all.

* * *

**I bet you didn't think those farts would be a legit Chehkov's Gun, huh? I know my readers aren't fond of it but at least it gets you to comment much more.**


	15. Watch The Queen Conquer

**Kiara defies fate as the very first to escape Kaa's own innards and seeks to be the very last by any means necessary.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 14: Watch The Queen Conquer_

Kiara could feel her body telling her that standing up alone was a strain, still feeling burns all over from the stomach acids. However, she still scowled back up at Kaa in all his wooziness and told herself that it'll never be over until the python is where he can't ever hurt anybody ever again. The plucky princess allowed her former friend to get a good look at her before she bolted off in the opposite direction and right into the trees, praying the seething serpent would come for her.

"I wasss being kind by allowing her body to nourisssssh me," Kaa began with his rage boiling to a fever pitch, "a way of giving thanksssss for being ssssuch a lovely toy." Even with the lingering urge to vomit, he slithered steadily to where his prey escaped to. "However, thissss insssssolenccccce desssservesssss to be paid back in full." It was hard to know what hurt worse, his guts or his pride. "I will hear her beg for the releassse of death no matter what the cossst isss."

Simba felt his hope plummet when he saw Kaa slither off towards Kiara and still felt his body as still as a statue. He shut his eyes and grit his teeth with all his desperation in an attempt to break free of the spell, focusing on his daughter. His constant overprotective parenting led her into the serpent's manipulative grip and yet she managed to fart her way out. The king mustered up every bit of willpower that he had left, vowing to put his past behind him and do his dad proud.

With a worn out Nala in his sights, Simba slowly but surely took the first step...

* * *

Kiara's rush of adrenaline could only push her body so much until she finally slowed to a near crawl, her chest heaving like she just ran an marathon. Her head hung like a fruit ripe enough to fall from the branches as she began to actually process what had just happened to her. The princess had been eaten. Gulped. Consumed. Swallowed alive like she was actual food. It was hard to believe that she would've been melted down to mush if not for a sudden bowel movement.

"Note to self," Kiara began to tell herself, "as far as anybody's concerned, I clawed my way out like a badass." She hoped that it would take the edge off but it still freaked her out how easily Kaa made a meal out of her. The helplessness of it all shook her to her core but what made it most upsetting was that she had been eaten alive by the one who made her feel... special. Her eyes shut to remember all of their time together and wished that this was all just her nightmares.

Kiara's eyes snapped back open upon hearing a sharp hissing noise from a distance behind her, sending her adrenaline into overdrive. She got her second wind while forcing herself past several trees with her body still barely able to keep from wobbling. She could collapse at any moment and be all too easy for Kaa to swallow back whole again. Ironically, it was this very threat of her imminent demise that was the only thing making her pained legs put one paw after the other.

"Perhapsssss you didn't get the messsssage, your highnesssss," Kaa's barely restrained voice called out from by a few feet away. "My ssstomach isss a tomb." Kiara's sharp hearing made it seem like he was right on top of her and had her push her body even further out of sheer fear. "To be ssssswallowed whole by me isssss a death sssssentancccce than nobody hasss ever onccce defied before." The princess had to hold her tongue from giving out any of her witty replies.

"Thisssss transssssgresssssion you dared to commit will cossssst you dearly," Kaa's voice continued, his hissing still sounded awfully nauseous. "For assss long assss I live, you will be nothing but a helpless prisoner within your own body." Kiara urged herself to ignore the serpent as she struggled on towards the open plains, no matter how gruesome his tone of voice was becoming. "My eyesss will put your very deep under my thrall yet delicately allow you some awarenesss."

Kiara couldn't help but remember every time Kaa's eyes instilled that happiness within her and feel her heart sink upon realizing what he had been doing. It was always his subtle little way of making her trust in him implicitly and mixed in a few words of encouragement that her own father never gave. The princess grit her teeth in order to fight back the tears but knowing that she had already been the snake's little toy was a tough pill for even a python to swallow whole.

"While your father gorgesssss on the Pride Landsssss like a hyena," Kiara heard Kaa monologue further to her anxiousness, "I'll make your perform for me like my own court jesssster for dancing, playing and ssssqueezzzzing mosssst essspecccially." She could see the trees becoming more sparse as the tall grass came into view. "I'll let you wake up in time to exxxperiencccce the full forcccce of my coilsss." The princess could hear her "old friend" becoming more unhinged.

"I can almosssst ssssee it now," Kaa called out, getting closer according to Kiara's sharp ears. "Barely gasssssping for air with a pathetic look in your eyesss all assss they bulge out, your life teetering on the edge of death itsssself." The princess tried her best to keep herself from visualizing the snake's sadistic fantasy. "Every sssssingle day will have you wissssshing that you allowed me to consssssume your body but I'll ssssssee to it that I rip that hope clean away from you."

Kiara scowled hard and shook her head in attempt to get her mind off of Kaa's declaration of revenge. She entered the Savannah and used her sharp sense of smell to pick up the musty scent of wet mud. Her body began to pick up speed as hope filled her heart and her veins. The princess knew that it was a long shot but also knew that she had to do what she could. Her family. Her subjects. All of the Pride Lands were depending on her to wake them up from their nightmare.

"Keep dreaming, you overgrown worm," Kiara declared viciously under her breath. "Your death will be all the better..."

* * *

**What hope does Kiara possess to topple Kaa's reign of terror. The final showdown comes to a head... next time.**


	16. Kaa's Komeuppance

**Kaa has been lording over both prey and predator alike, violating of the Circle of Life for decades. A reign of terror that shall soon reach its grand finale.**

* * *

_Chapter 15: Kaa's Komeuppance_

Kaa slithered through the tall grass as he followed Kiara's vomit-tinged scent with the most deranged grin stretched across his face. "Now then," he hissed haughtily, knowing his little kitten could hear loud and clear, "what ssssort of derring-do will our plucky princcccessss pull to get out of thissss jam?" The python kept his spirits high by imagining the desperation his prey must be wracked with and the despair she'll face once he gets her. "Ssssurely, this can't be the end?"

Kaa couldn't help but feel a rush to it all. It had been the very first time that anybody had ever escaped his stomach after enduring his constriction. He was utter livid at the disgrace that Kiara had put him through yet also relished the thought of the retribution she'd be put through. The python almost felt like laughing at the crafty cub's delusions of control when he began to recognize his surroundings more. A musty sort of scent also graced his tongue soon enough.

"Ssssay now," Kaa hissed in genuine intrigued, "what have we here?" He soon slithered out of the tall grass to recognize the tree hanging over the quicksand pit and soon spotted Kiara with her hind legs on the edge, one step from the bog itself. "If you get any closer, I'll jump right in," Kiara declared vehemently. "I would rather die on my own terms than become your toy." The python pretended to be taken aback by Kiara glaring daggers right at him before smirking again.

"Would you now?" Kaa declared, slithering out of the tall grass. "No, I think you would prefer to be my toy." The colorful rings soon poured out of his eyes at full force with every intention of brainwashing Kiara permanently. "I believe that you ssssstill dessssire the validatiiiion your father denied you." The princess was quick to shut her eyes and turn her eyes away but her scaly adversary knew that she lost when she saw but a glimpse. "The validatiiiiion I rewarded you with."

Kiara tightly had her eyelids shut while getting ready to step back onto the quicksand. "I am the only one you can find true refuge in," Kaa hissed, his words sounding so... tempting. "The only one who can make you into the Queen you're desssstined to become." A mere glance at the radiant rainbow had awakened the princess's desire to see more of it, one he had conditioned her for. "N... no...," she uttered as her left eye slowly opened, her urges overwhelming any logic.

"That'sssss a good girl," Kaa sniggered condescendingly, his head looming over Kiara. "There'ssss no reasssson to give your life up when I can make it all feel better." The way she slowly moved her head towards him and opened her eyes bit by bit was simply sublime. "Let my eyessss wasssssh away your negativity," the snake declared, seeing his rainbow rings reflecting in the resisting princess's eyes already. "Let my voice ssssoothe your troubled ssssoul forever and ever."

Kiara's eyes slowly became magnetically drawn to Kaa's with her gritted teeth already loosening up. The radiant rings pulsated from her pupils as the princess could feel the snake's stare actually eroding her anger and slowly replacing it with a new sense of tranquility. She tried to cling to her rage but her expression softened into that of curiosity with her brows knit and her mouth agape. It felt so invasive and yet good. All she had to do was give in and never feel bad again.

"It'ssss sssso mucccch better to jusssst give in," Kaa advised with an almost maternal tone of voice, moving closer to Kiara's face. "To jussst ssssurrender after all of your hard battlessss." He was pleased to see that the princess was still hanging on to her anger in sheer futility. "All you musssst do issss... trussst in me and jussssst in me." The snake delighted in his little kitten's helpless expression too much to see her left paw unsheathing its claws until she raised it up and...

Simba struggled through the tall grass with an exhausted Nala on his back just when a bloodcurdling screech cried out. Neither the king nor queen could help feeling the shivers down their spine as their sharp hearing respectively recognized it as Kaa's. Simba made sure that Nala was holding on tight before running faster towards the source and exited the tall grass where the quicksand was but a few yards away. Neither one of them could believe what they were seeing.

Kaa cried out further as he could still feel the claws pierce his left eye and the pain of it all. His head flailed about as if trying to shake off that pain while Kiara takes in deep breaths to shake off the heavy hypnotic effects. She couldn't believe that she had that much willpower to lift a paw, let alone strike the python himself. The princess decided to take this opportunity to try her plan out despite her mind only semi-recovered and began going backwards onto the quicksand.

Witnessing Kiara step onto the unstable surface gave Nala a real fright despite being too weak to rise. Simba's own fears subsided as he began to piece together what his daughter was attempting and found himself holding himself back from interfering. It would be simple for him to rush in and push the python into the pit but seeing his little girl attempting this gambit after resisting the radient rainbow filled him with pride. He had to allow his successor to prove herself.

Blind with rage as well as a bloody eye, Kaa fiercely flickered his tongue to pick up on Kiara's scent as she backed away from him. "Firsssst, you essscape my ssssstomach," he declared with barely restrained anger, "and now you actually fight off my hypnossssissss." He slithered forward onto the quicksand without even taking the time to distribute his weight properly. "Let'sssss ssssee how you'll endure the full forcccce of my conssssstriction if you're feeling bold enough."

Kiara felt her left hind-paw start to sink below the surface to her dismay but was relieved to see Kaa head her way with reckless abandon. "I will enssssure you exxxxpire in the mosssst exxxxcruciating way imaginable," he vowed while ignoring the bulk of his body beginning to go under. "Your facccce will cry out for help like the bitch that you are but not even wheezzzzzesssss will esssscape your throttled throat." The princess waited for his head to get in range and dive down.

Kiara pounced up off of the quicksand with all of her might and landed upon Kaa's head with perfect timing. Her body managed to push his face into the bog as she raced across his bulky body and hoped over the more sunken parts in order to reach firm ground. The princess turned around in time to see Kaa yank his head out and turn his snarl towards his feline foe. He began to slither back towards her but felt the muck entrap him no matter how many times he tried to pull.

"No," Kaa quietly said in his distraught. He managed to look with his good eye and was distraught to find that his neck was slowly being dragged down by the quicksand. "Oh no no no." He looked up ahead to find the rest of his body becoming pulled into the pit and couldn't budge an inch on that end either. "Thissss cannot be happening!" At last, his good eye landed its sights on Kiara glowering straight at him with a pitiful yet angry glare. "You- you can't do thissss to me!"

"You did this to yourself," Kiara declared vehemently, strutting away from the other half of Kaa's body. "You turned your back upon the Circle of Life and gorged yourself on any creature whether you needed it or not." She held back the tears upon recalling some of the fun times she actually had with the python. "You made me into some tool for your cruelest revenge." She gritted her teeth as the tears soaked into her fur. "This is the least of what you deserve, you monster!"

"No-," Kaa began to scream out before the quicksand fully engulfed his head before he knew it. Kiara looked on as bubbles rose up from where the one mighty terror was loosing air by the minute. Suffocated not unlike how he subdued his prey. Part of her felt relieved that the terror was over and that she managed to topple her manipulator yet... another part of her felt heartbroken to lose him again. Tears continued to flow as she sat down and hung her head as if mourning.

* * *

**One lioness cub became Kaa's undoing but it's not the victory that Kiara had thought it would be sadly.**


	17. A Royal Reconciliation

**Kaa has disappeared from the face of the Earth itself but Kiara's trauma still runs deep. Simba finally steps up, knowing exactly what to do.**

* * *

_Chapter 16: A Royal Reconciliation  
_

Kiara felt a strange sense of solemnness upon watching Kaa's tail become sucked down into the quicksand. Memories of all the fun she had with Kaa replayed in her mind as she closed her eyes. Despite seeing his true colors, the princess remembered how he was the first to treat her far less like a helpless little thing and more like a father figure that she could've truly confide in. She couldn't shake it off and began to tear up. It felt like her BFF was vanishing before her eyes.

"Swallowed whole and suffocated slowly," Simba's voice rang out rather happily, getting Kiara's attention. "If that's not karma, then I don't know what is." The princess turned around to find her father walking towards her with a rather proud grin. "That strategy honestly had me smiling the whole time." She couldn't help but smile back at the words of praise that the king had long denied her. "I always saw you as something to protect but you just defeated THE Kaa himself."

Kiara's slight smile sank when she remembered Kaa. "Maybe... you were right to keep me safe... from him," she lamented, her head sinking in shame. "He really made me think that I was ready to be Queen but I was the perfect stooge for him." She clenched her teeth to keep from really sobbing. "If I didn't get lucky, he would've killed Mom and made you into a monster." The princess finally broke down in tears that soaked her fur. "I should've stayed at Pride Rock like you said."

Simba sighed compassionately as Kiara's anguish felt all too familiar. "Kaa was able to get to you because I tried to keep you safe," he admitted, lifting his own daughter's head up with his right paw. "I should've been teaching you to hunt properly and to delegate but I let my fear of him play into his coily grip." The king wiped her tears away gently as her highness looked surprised by her father's empathy. "I provoked you into rebelling and gave him the hold that he'd needed."

Kiara began to remember Kaa's fixation on Simba in particular and soon widened her eyes in relaxation. "He... got to you too, didn't he?" Her father's sudden heartbroken expression was all the response that she needed. "He put me deep under after I... lost somebody," he lamented, closing his eyes in deep thought. "Nala soon got through to me but I can never ever forget..." He opened his eyes to look at his daughter. "I often question if I'm even actually fit for the throne."

"How did you get through it?" Kiara reluctantly asked, hoping for a solution. "I'm still doing my very best to get by," Simba answered honestly. "I can't say that there's a quick fix to this horrible experience but... Nala and I will be here for you to help." He reached out with his right paw and began to ruffle some of his daughter's fur to her bemusement. "You managed to survive Kaa's wrath just as I did." The princess soon began to smile back at him. "You'll be a great Queen."

Kiara looked back at Simba's proud expression with her heart filling up with that warm feeling Kaa had gave her. Except this wasn't some sort of slick tongued manipulation. Her father was speaking from the bottom of his heart. The princess teared up once again but out of sheer happiness and moved up towards the king. He was surprised by the way she nuzzled her head affectionately against his mane but soon smiled back and put his paws around his daughter in return.

"Wait until Zazu hears about this," Simba chuckled to lighten the mood, unaware of Kiara's eye snapping open in dread. "For your sake, I'll leave out the more, erm, gassy bits." He found himself surprised when his daughter slipped herself out of his hug. The princess backed away from her father with the anxious sort of expression every cub made when they knew they were in trouble. "Yeah, um... funny thing about Zazu..." she began before putting on the most forced grin.

Simba could only sigh like the beleaguered father he was, sympathizing with his own parents even further...

* * *

**Thus this Lion King story ends on a most poignant note: farting in a snake's stomach and remembering how Zazu was reduced down to Kiara's dung.**

**Oh, how it warms the heart. Please be sure to really leave a review and check out my other fics if you're into freaky stuff like me.**


End file.
